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Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XII, Issue 235, 18 September 1922, Page 7

Speaking at the annual meeting of the Motor Trade Association, Mr. H. C. King, presiding, said that it was not a theory but an economic fact that it was the cost of transportation which did more to govern prices than any. other factor. To sell cheap transportation was to make it possible to sell cheap goods. For example, it was not the cost of ploughing, seeding, harvesting, threshing and milling which kept the price of bread at its present high standard. It was the cost of hauling the raw materials which went to make the ploughs, binders, and threshing machines, and cost of transporting them when made to the farmers. the cost of hauling the wheat to the markets and transporting it to the mill, and the cost of hauling the flour to the wholesaler, who transported it to the baker, who retailed it and transported it to the ultimate consumer. Anything which went to lowering the cost of transportation at any link in the chain from raw material to the ultimate consumer was a boon to the community. At the enquiry by the Venereal Diseases Committee at Wellington, the Government Statistician (Mr. Malcolm Fraser) sugmitted a return showing following figures of illegitimate births in the last nine years, the figures in parentheses being the total of legitimate births within one year after marriage:—l9l3, 1173 (4202); 1914, 1291 (4044); 1915, 1137 (3870); 1916, 1139 (3878); 1917, 1141 (3124); 1918, 1169 (2413); 1919, 1)32 (2637); 1920, 1414 (4688); 1921, 1245 (4882). Of the total of legitimate births, in 17,663 cases the first legitimate birth of a union occurred within nine months. To circumnavigate the world without having to worry about catching steamers and trains, or finding hotels, is now open to the tourist with about £4OO to spare, lhe new Cunarder, Laconia, is to commence the cruise next winter, taking 130 leisurely days to get round, and so contrived that they shall be nearly all summer days. The U.S. Shipping Board is also making a bid for this kind of traffic, and is sending two of its finest vessels on the world cruise next January. Something has to be done with these costly ships with the Atlantic passenger traffic falls off, and the Mauretania is taking a holiday in the Mediterranean lasting 54 days, from February onwards. It is calculated, after giving the widest interpretation to the Prime Minister’s remarks in the House last Tuesday regarding the probable duration of the session and the probable date of polling-day, that the elections this year will be held not later than December 7th. A Christchurch reportei’ submitted this surmise to a business man, who has taken considerable interest in the steps taken to urge the Government to fix polling day towards the end of November in order to leave December free for the Christmas trade, and the business man commented that the statement made by the Prime Minister showed an evident desire on his part to meet the wishes of the business community. If polling day were fixed not later than December 7th. it would be quite satisfactory from the business point of view. As an example of the value of the German mark, which was quoted on Thursday at 5400 to the pound, a member of the Dunedin Stock Exchange stated that he had been shown the envelope of a letter from Germany to a Dunedin resident. On it were postage stamps which, at the pre-war value of the mark, would be worth £6 10/-. Perhaps this gives more indication to m*ny. people of the value of the mark than does the statement that one pound is worth five or six thousand.