MONEY VALUES NOT A TRUE GUIDE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22655, 4 June 1948, Page 3

MONEY VALUES NOT A TRUE GUIDE

MELBOURNE, May 20.

Reflection of big price rises is shown by the fact that while net sales __ of Australian goods in 1947 was £66.750,000, the value of these goods when assessed at prices ruling from 1937 to 1939 was only £46,711,000. The current issue of Record, official journal of the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce, which gives these figures, points out that wherever value is used as a criterion, instead of quantity, the figures are often meaningless, because of rapid price changes. One example showed that although there was a big increase in values of Australia’s commodity exports last year, quantities were below (hose exported in 1939. The value of Australia’s wholesale trade could not be gauged until prices were assessed on the average for three years before June, 1939. The following tabic (showing net sales recorded under Sales Tax Acts and figures assessed on the 1937-39 base year; gives an example: Current 1937-39

Prices Base Year £ £ 1933 39.762,000 39,329,000 1940 42,641,000 40.727,000 1941 43,755,009 38.399,000 1942 48,429,000 38,993.000 1943 49,703.000 36,202,000 1944 50.473.000 30.155.000 1945 52.262.000 37,197,000 1945 55,703,000 39,450.000 1947 66,750,000 46,711.000