BUSINESS MEN'S VIEWS

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 107, 6 May 1926, Page 10

BUSINESS MEN'S VIEWS

"REPERCUSSION" TALK CAN BE OVERDONE

N.Z. LOAN AND PUBLIC WOEKS.

The word "repercussion" is a big word, and temporarily popular, but business men interested in dairy produce, and one or two others, interviewed this morning, deprecate any tendency to overestimate, or to unduly anticipate, ropercussive effects of the British crisis. They do not agree with an Auckland suggestion published below that the price-fixation in London is unfair as regards cheese. They agree that the situation in. the United Kingdom will react on. New Zealand's trade, and that each week that passes will see new lines of reaction, but they think that the conversion of a sectional industrial dispute into a "general strike" amounting to war upon the social order will create in Britain a situation so intolerable to the people that it cannot possibly last. In the Auckland message referred to, an anonymous banker suggests that '' the London banks may even close temporarily," and he remarks how serious it would be if public works in the Dominion were to cease. Inquiries made this morning at the Prime Minister's office and at the Treasury indicated that no information received there suggested a closing of the banks. It is true that a postponement of New Zealand's pending loan flotation might be expected to result from the situation in London, but, for the present, public works in New Zealand are not dependent on new loan finance. THE STORAGE FACTOR. The "fixed prices" in London for dairy produce—l7ls for butter and 93s for cheese —are also criticised by an anonymous exporter interviewed in Auckland. When this matter was submitted to Mr. J. B. MacEwan, of Wellington, that gentleman said that he spoke with all diffidence on such a complex situation, but he certainly could not support the contention that the 93s represented a "grave injustice." The: condition of the cheese market prior to ! the strike did not warrant that the price should be fixed on f.o.b. purchases of the past season. Canadian cheese was beginning to come on, and the British market in May had to reckon with the local make, and advices showed a downward trend of prices. He did not consider the 93s unjust, as far as one was able to judge the unprecedented situation that had arisen. Considering the conditions existing before the strike, the price fixed for butter also seemed fair, except that, when the butter in store came to be drawn on storage charges at least should be added. The price seemed fair for butter discharged direct from the ship, but he presumed that the strike would stop much discharging, and herein arose a most interesting point—how would Danish butter fare in that case, and were the Danes possessed of sufficient storage accommodation? There were various unknown factors in the situation, and he accordingly spoke with reservation. The position was a very serious one. Mr. J. G. Harkness also spoke with reserve, but said that he saw no present ground to criticise the prices fixed in London. Mr. T. C. Brash, secretary •of the Dairy Produce Export Control Board, was unable to-discuss the situation in its present phase.