GAIN TO FARMERS

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 103, 25 January 1933, Page 10

GAIN TO FARMERS

Increased Exchange Rate AUSTRALIAN ASPECTS “Outcry Soon Died Down” VICTORIAN VISITORS’ VIEW Surprise at the opposition that has been voiced in New Zealand in certain quarters to the increase » the exchange was expressed y est ®‘ dav by the Victorian farmers now touring the Dominion and who spent the morning in Wellington. Thej admitted that there had been much the same outcry in Australia at the time the increase had been <ei d nnon there, but explained that u had now completely died down. From their observations of its opera - Hon in Australia they were td opinion that the present agitation here would not last long. Several members of the party said they could not understand why there Xo t»s s 1» S-Jj* the exchange issue. . When told that the business interests were opposing it, they replied that if the farmers were not prosperous then the rest of the community was not. One member stated that while business men could pass on any higher charges to the consumer the farmer was unable to do so. Exchange had proved a wonderful benefit to the farmer in Victoria, and also to the secondary industries. “You hard y ever hear the exchange rate mentioned now,” he said. „ Mr. E. G. Ham, M.8.E., secretary of the tour, said there was no doubt that at present the high exchange was a big help to the Australian primary producer. At the outset similar concern to the high exchange had been experienced in Australia, but it had not been found to act detrimentally. Seeing that New Zealand, like Australia, was largely a primary producing country and exported 90 per cent, of its output, the increased exchange should prove a benefit rather than be-of any detriment to the Dominion. The experience in Australia, said Mr. Ham, had been that there had been no rise in the cost of living. As a matter of fact, the tendency had been downward. Of course somebody must be affected, but in the .aggregate the community as a whole stood to benefit. Better times in the’country must immediatffiy be reflected in an improvement in the centres of population. Any reduction in exchange would have to be gradual as a sudden drop would prove very bad for the primary producer. AGAINST GOVERNMENT Mr. Stallworthy’s Stand on Exchange By Telegraph—Press Association. Auckland, Jan. 24. A definite statement that he would support a no-confidence motion against the Government’s exchange rate policy, even if the Govrnment’s fate depended on his vote, was made by Mr. A. J. Stallworthy, M.P. for Eden, at a meeting of electors to-night. Mr . Stallworthy was accorded a unanimous vote of confidence with which the resolution of protest against the raising of the exchange rate was incorporated. COMPANY BENEFITS • Exchange Rate Increase CHAIRMAN’S LUCKY ACTION Dominion Special Service. Auckland, Jan. 24. By pure good luck, the Hikurangi Co-operative Dairy Company, Limited, has already benefited to the extent of £5Ol as a result of the increase in the exchange rate last Friday. The chairman of directors of the company almost invariably calls at the company’s office at"Whangarei on the 19th day of each month to sign drafts on London for advance payments to suppliers,... This month, however, without the slightest thought of the exchange rate being altered, he called in on the 20th, by which time the. rate had been increased to. 25 per cent. ‘ The result was that the company has benefited by just over £5OO. BUSINESS PROTEST Chamber of Commerce Records Opposition The Government’s action in pegging the rate of exchange was discussed in committee by the Council of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce last night, and a resolution of protest was carried. The president, Mr. J. Pearce Luke, upon resuming in open council, moved the following resolution:— “That the Council of the Wellington Chambere of Commerce emphatically condemns the action of the Government in violating established banking practices by causing the rate of exchange to be artificially pegged; that this action must inevitably create greater evils than the present action is calculated to .overcome, and in the meantime the majority must suffer for the benefit of the minority.” The motion was seconded by Mr. Stronach Paterson, who remarked that Government interference wtt§ always cumulative, necessitating further interference, They had had it in the mortgage relief legislation, and would have it again in the raising of the rate of exchange. The motion was carried.