“MUCH STRONGER.”

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 16 October 1924, Page 4

“MUCH STRONGER.”

PROGRESS OF DOMINION. OUTLOOK GOOD FOR PRIMARY INDUSTRIES. A REVIEW AND A FORECAST. In his presidential address at the annual meeting c.f the New Zealand iuhployers’ Federation in Wellington, Mr T. Shailer Weston reviewed tho progress of the Dominion during the past year, and, barring industrial troubles, spoke hopefully of the outlook, at any rate for New Zealand’s primary industries (the Post reports). The year (said Mr Weston) has seen considerable progress made by the Dominion as a. whole towards recovery. Thanks to unexpectedly high prices for wool and good prices, for mutton, lamb, and'dairy produce, farmers who did hot hamper themselves with land bought at extravagant prices must have done well.. On the reverse side, some iof the secondary industries have begun to . feel the fierce competition with outside manufactured goods, which the recovery of Germany will only, increase.. The position of cattle growers has improved but slightly, and many of the larger wholesale importing firms and some,of the retailers report a disappointing turnover and a lack of growth in the purchasing power of the community. This complaint, however, is not surprising if we realise the number and si zei of. the pot-holes any incoming tide, of prosperity had first to fill. up. The 1 Dominion as a whole should congratualte itself that another year’s march towards complete economic recovery hias been accomplished, and that the position generally to-day is much stronger than a year ago. , . Our growth of population has been aided throughout the year by a steadystream of immigrants who., with a few exceptions, due probably to individual failings, I have been quietly absorbed. The outlook for our primary industries, despite the poor price of beef and the failure of some parts of the hill country in the North Island, is-good; indeed that of the sheepfarmer more than good; These two factors will assist the home market for our secondary industries. , Given a freedom from labour disputes and stoppages, continued, and if possible, increased economy by individuals, local bodies and the Government, and no' crude or disturbing legislative experiments, another ' two yeafs should see Necw Zealand well out of the slough into which she was plunged in 1921. The loss due to labour disputes has been often emphasised by this Federation. An example in point is the stoppage of the West Coast coal mines at the end-of last year. The railway renbrt just published refers to the traffic, lost to the’railways by four months’ stoppage of these mines; in addition there is the lessened income tax payable by the various * coal companies on smaller incomes, the loss and inconvenience of the regular customers for West Coast coal, who had to purchase elsewhere, and the loss in Australian exchange dife to the necessarily increased importation of Australian coal. The wages lost by the men ran into approximately £BO,OOO, and will not be made up by the advances granted on the settlement. Industrial uncertainty always means increased cost of production. This cannot he too often or two strongly emphasised. Most modern buildings and works require considerable time for erection. Contractors for these necessarily add. a margiiy to protect themselves against changes in rates of wages and conditions of working, 'not to speak of strikes, during their course of construction. The greater the apprehension of these the greater the margin allcnved: The general public ultimately defray the. cost. Give'n assured peace in labour circles, fhe margin of profit in all big contracting jobs would be cut much finer than can be done at presept with, safety. I am more than ever convinced that the best chance of permanently improv-ing-the standard of living’of workers in New Zealand during the next ten years lies in Labour leaders concentrating their efforts bn maintaining the present rates of wages, money, and on counteracting the tendency of such rates of money wages to fall' as prices of manufactured articles and food products fall, by impressing upon workers individually the absolute necessity for furnishing steady, honest; and loyal effort, free from' strikes and go. slow. sh the great growth and improvement in output of secondary industries throughout the.. world, due to new and unproved machinery, plant and methods,, the price of manufactured articles must inevitably fall. The opening up of new* areas fer agriculture, more intensive cultivation of old areas, better and cheaper transit facilities, and the study and development of agricultural science, will probably result in a gradual fall in food prices. This movement will lie assisted by a universal return to gold currency or,/at all events; a paper currency strictly regulated with reference to--the value of gold a return which (the experiments with paper money by the various European Governments has. once again proved imperative, if international trade is to continue. So long as money wages in New Zealand remain the same a drop of 20 per cent. in. the cost of living is equivalent to a rise of 20 per cent, in money wages, wdiich, unless resulting from increased production simply means higher prices. * That there is ' a fund from which such a rise can be extorted at the expense of the capitalist or' the employer without increasing prices is a fallacy believed in by many. Statistician's iiave often exposed this. In his recent-ly-published book, entitled “Wealth and Taxable Capacity,” Sir Josiali Stamp deals with. l this question, and after careful investigation arrives at an estimate of the total national income of ail individuals in Great Britain. * He then considers what the result would he on the division of this total income if a levelling down took place—if, for example, 1 all the incomes in excess of £250 per annum were pooled over the whole population. After allowing for Hie taxation: borne by this section of incomes, and, assuming the Public Services to be maintained and also that the same relative proportion of national income is set aside for capital extensions. increased production; etc., as is absolutely necessary, he concludes that such division would not give each family in Great Britain more than £l4 a year rise, and that this sum of £l4 nor annum,, after the first year of the initiation cf this, method of division, would bfe reduced to £5 per annum owing to the changes necessarily attendant upon such an innovation. This startling innovation would not result in a universal .rise of even 5 per cent, in wages. As a. contrast to this he gives facts and figures to. show that by improved methods of production the average income measured in money of each individual has' doubled itself during. the nineteenth century. Further, comparing the level of prices in 1801 and 1913, lie 6 ml® (bat owing to the lower level of priors in 1913 tin’s increase in money wages is again doubled. His ultimate conclusion i® that the <•*>•- dinarv person in Great Britain in 1913 was four *1 hiv ' well oil’ in real commodities as Hie person in the corresponding position in the scale at the beginning of the nineteenth century. He likens the exaggerated view' taken

by so many of the amount of wealli enjoyed by the few as compared with the wealth of the nation to that of the Alps in Europe, yet he points out that if all the majestic mass and volume’of the Alps were levelled and spread out the surface of Europe would be raised but a few inches. If our standard of life is to be raised employers Avill have to do their part. They must make the fullest use of the most up-to-date machinery and approved business methods, and must not lose capital in unproductive and hopeless ventures. Consider, for example, the waste of capital during the lastfew years owing to the erection of freezing works not required. The money sunk in the erection of buildings and the purchase of plant for whose use there is no demand, could have been readily invested in loans to farmers-,for urgent agricultural improvements. This waste could easily have been avoided by a little consideration of statistics. What amount of beef, mutton, lamb, was available for freezing annually in tlie districts where the new works were situated—what capacity had existing works for handling this when working at their Fullest capacity—was there really an opening for the new' works? Past mistakes are useful jf they teach wisdom. To-day nearly all the recognised New Zealand coal mines are not being worked to their full economical limit. With a larger output from each, coal would be cheaper to the consumer, shareholders would receive a dividend more commensurate with the risk’ of their ventures and the loss of dividends in the past, and the miners would receive a larger income through more constant employment. The only bar to all this is the smallness of the demand for New Zealand coal. Australian competition, lessened bunkering owing to the use of oil-burning and oil-driven vessels, the rapid development of hydroelectric schemes is diminishing the demand for coal, yet new' companies are still being floated to supply coal to localities already over supplied. Undoubtedly there is more machinery installed in our factories than the available market ever justified. With the- intense competition from o-utside now' imminent, cur secondary industries will no doubt Aveigh future possibilities carefully before undertaking further expansions. At present- the wages of those engaged in the primary industries are disproportionate to those in the secondary industries, and as the prices- of primary products are determined by the world’s markets,, higher protective duties are not justifiable-. “As to the importance of Government, 1 local body, and iiidiA'idual economy, I can only reiterate Avbat many others have urged. Loan, moneys should only be spent on reproductive Avorks, and reproductive Avorks Avhich can without excessiA'e . inco-nyenienee be postponed should not be put in hand. Land and local body rates are really equivalent to N a first mortgage upon land. The groAvth in local bodies’ indebtedness, although undoubtedly partly offset in many cases by assets, has led to an increase in rates, and these are becoming so- high that they have to be taken into account av hen estimating the value of land. Until recently not sufficient consideration has been taken of them by either buyers or lenders. It is so easy and-so human a frailty to the part of a good fellc-Av with other people’s money that unless politicians and local body representative.® are ahvays on their guard they will be induced to support schemes not absolutely necessary. This question of local body expenditure must in future be looked at from a national point of vieAA’. No district can embarrass itself without injuring not only its ow'n ratepayers, hut also, the rest of the Dominion. To spend £50,000 upon a harbour at Onunake Avhen a National HiahAvav Board will be improving the road access of that.township to a really good port forty miles distant, and AA'hen the Government is, just completing a branch iraihA’ay connecting it with a main trunk line, is an instance of abuse of the right to govern locally. The time has uoav come AA’hen the Avhole system of local government might aaqll be revised.”