PRESSING PROBLEMS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 117, 19 May 1937, Page 14

PRESSING PROBLEMS

PRODUCE &" MARKET REPORTS FROM DAY TO DAY

IN UNITED STATES

"BAD ECONOMICS TALK" "Evening Post," May 19. A rather grave view is taken by American bank authorities of the difnculties likely to. be encountered by pursuit of the United States Adminis-. tration's present policy of deficit financing. The Guaranty Trust Company of New. York, «the third largest bank in the United States, has directed public attention to the evidence givenfrom time to time of the urgent need for cessation of deficit financing as a stimulant to economic recovery. This authority in its survey of business insists that "only .when' vigorous and effective steps towards retrenchment in Government expenditures are taken can business proceed with reasonable assurance-that recovery will not develop along radically unsound lines. The .most significant;-feature1 of the Treasury's current position is not. that receipts have fallen below expectations, but that the increase in receipts has been offset by an even greater rise in expenditures, together with the fact that no real determination to balance the Budget has yet,been shown." TIME FOR RESTRAINT. It is admitted that recent utterances' of the ■President seem to indicate a, realisation of the' need of. gaining greater control over the general expenditures, as well .as, of the. relief expenditures, of tfye Government. .It. is to be hoped th.at;they mark the beginning of' a more'determined campaign than has yet been made to bring about a fundamental change in the position of the Treasury.. ; "The situation now calls not for stimulation but for restraint, and the first step in., effective, restraint, must ■ be a..balanced/ Budget." :■"'•' . CREDIT AND PRICES. 1 : The Cleveland Trust Company, of '•Cleveland, Ohio, in a reasoned • and concise statement of the position as -jt'sees it, observes that "a good deal ' of bad economics is being talked in -'these days'about emergency measures to prevent a business boom, extended : controls to check bank' credit expansion, and increased Federal powers to restrain commodity price advances. ■These discussions constitute a kind of locking of .the stable door before the family h/orse has even been acquired. '■ "The truth Is that we not only have . so business boom, but we have not as yet definitely emerged from the ■ depression. • ■ "The expansion of bank credit loans so far in this recovery period has 'been-non-speculative in nature, and s>o moderate in volume as to be almost ' minute. The exceptionally rapid price -advances have been in commodities of intetnatiopal trade. . ! ' '"The present discussions are baneful because they, divert our attention ■ and bur efforts away from the- three • economic problems which really-are of pressing urgency.;1... .■ -■ ■ ■■- • i "These are the reduction of unemployment, the balancing of _ the Federal Budget, and the restoration of harmony in labour relations. < V PATIENCE AND PRUDENCE. - i''Ol course we should foster every promising attempt to find out how to minimise business booms and slumps, but equally of course we ■ shall ultimately realise that these desired results are to be attained through the •patient and' persistent application of prudent policies, and. not by the sudden adoption of a series of •panaceas. ' . ': . , ... •"At present our volume of industrial production is about as large as it. was just before the depression, but we have now about • 7,000,000 more people in the population than we had then, so the per capita output is smaller. NATIONAL INCOME LOWER. ."Our national income, our railroad freight traffic, and our department store sales are all about 20 per cent, lower now than just before the depression. New construction is running about half of what it was. ten years chief reason why about 15 per cent, or more of our workers are idle 'is-that general business, including industry, agriculture, trade, and transportation, is still 15 per cent, or more below normal. . , ■ "Our greatest present national need is to become currently self-supporting once more, as a nation, as com T rnunities, as families, and as mdiwe should be working out means to remain self-supporting after we become self-supporting. Alter that we might well worry about how to-avoid over-prosperity." . ; REMU DREDGE RETURN. j'..-,' ... ■ / ; , , '•■• (By Telegraph—Press. Association.) - HOKITIKA, May 18. • The Rimu dredge reports a return of 272.450z of . crude gold from 50,648 cubic yards, worked in 137 hours.' DIVIDENDS DUE. *N.Z. Newspapers—final, 8d per share Slay 19 Dunedln Brewery-nnal 3V, per cent., making 6 per cent May 19 Dalgety and Co.—lnterim 3s 9d or IV, per cent per annum, less .'..-, British Income tax May 19 Doriaghy's Hope and Twine—final, -Is . 3d per share .... '. May 21 New Zealand Paper Mills—final 4 per cent, or 7 per cent, per annum May 22 Argo Gold—ld per share May 24 National Bank of Australasia—at 8 ' -per cent, per annum on botb Issues May*" Selfrldges (Australasia), 6 p.c -..*... May 27 Bank of New South Wales—lnterim • quarterly. 69 per share (Ausu currency) ...: •••■ »?ay *8 Westport Coal—lnterim half-yearly, 6d per share May Zs TTnlted Pictures—quarterly, 6d per share •••••• May 31 Earners' Trading Co., Auckland—final ". A and B pref., at 5 3-5 per cent, per annum, and C pref., at 5 per '. cent, per annum way 31 share • 'un* ' Imperial Chemical Industry—ord. final 5% per cent 'un» J Addison's Flat—l.o per cent June 1 Bwan Brewery, Perth—6d per share old Broken Hill Pty.—lnterim, half-yearly, Is 3d per share and lOd per shar» - on eontrib. (Aust. currency) ... June 2 Waihi Grand Junction—4d per share sterling (free nf Income tax) .. June i Oamaru Woollen ' Mills—interim, 2Vi ...percent. June ' J. K. McKenzle's Department Stores, -Ltd. —17J/4 per cent.-per annum June 8 Dominion Fertiliser, 5 p.c. per annum June 9 Bulolo Gold—equivalent In Australian currency of 1 dollar 80 cents Canadian i •• Ju°alo Placer Development—equivalent In Australian currency of 60 cents Canadian June 10 B"V»«s.C^.f Ca.l. a. nd.7. fl°!!'..° r. d!na^ June 11 K.Z. Breweries—final, VA per cent., . . making 8»/ 2 per cent, for the year June 16 Broken Hill South—ls 3d per share June 18. Mount Lyell—interim. Is 6d per share June 21 Wilson's Cement—final. 0d per share June.43 Morris Hedstrom—final-3»i per cent., \ • making s»i per cent, per annum June 30 The Union Government .of South Africa has decided to press on with the £5.000,000 New Basin scheme at Table Bay. The basin will be extended towards the top of the bay so as> to provide a gigantic basin 6000 ft long and 2000 ft wide, able to accommodate about twenty of the largest liners now on the Cape route, and embodying a dry dock over 1000 ft long which will take larger ships thao the Queen Mary. "Yorkshire demand was the bridge