LABOUR AND CAPITAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 1844, 19 June 1920, Page 3

LABOUR AND CAPITAL.

"A .MUTUALLY DESTRUCTIVE

STRUGGLE^,' In his address to tho shareholders of the Bank of New Zealand al the annual meeting yesterday Mr U. Beauchamp (chairman of dirqctor#) said: , Upon our national industry our whole national life, depends:' A, certain standard of production united to a. reasonable method of distribution are the first requisites of a nalionjs. physical and friend-. well-being. We live by winning from Nature tlie means of life. Product ion. indeed, is prerequisite to distribution, for. without the former the latler is impossible. To-day these two great fuf.lor.s in, our national lite leave much to be desired, "An intelligent ami sincere co-operation between the two great agents of production Labour and ('apital—is absolutely essential to an ameliorated,; Condition of our people, am) yet that kind of co-operation, not only in New Zealand hut. in the Old World, seems to be diminishing rather than increasing. The policy of organised Labour the world over is to fight Capital and not to unite with it. The world is confronted with an unparalleled economic crisis. Want and Starvation are- stalking through Europe leaving widespread death, misery and suffering.in their track. Unfed and unclothed millions are crying in despair for food and raiment, Lack -of a reasonable measure of comfort, is widespread owing to an insufficiency of the necessaries of life; and before this sad spectacle the mutually destructive struggle between Labour and Capital seems to be growing more and more bitter and intense. Strikes on the shallowest pretences; ever increasing'.'demimd.s for shorter hours; limitation of pat put and a conflict growing blindly ever more acute between employers and workmen, su'in to justify a gospel of despair regarding our .social and economic future. "Never" before in the history of the world have the needs of increased production been more clamant thioi to-day—-never before were the two partners, Labour and Capital, more bitterly estranged and antagonistic. 1 do not ?ay thai the blame—for the _ spectacle _ is-a sorry commentary on our civilisation—is wholly with one side or the other. Capital has never sufficiently brought to its consideration of the claims and aspirations of Labour the lamp of human sympathy. Recriminations and denunciations in the present great world crisis will serve no purpose. Inn that of intensifying the evils of ihe estrangement and dipiinishing the hope' of reconciliation, 'lt is better to strive lor .the good than to rail al the ill'—to, remedy the cause than to denounce it.

"Two great desiderata call aloud for recognition:' First, more sanity on the part of, Labotn —it should cea.se lo be mi immersed in agitation and so blind lo its results; and secondly, more genuine evidence of willing co-operation and concession on the pan of Capital, "Crusades jieaiti.-t, the soaring cost of living, profited •hunting, fixation of prices—-tJic-vse ai'b but syrripfonvj <jl' the disease, of a paralysed or arrested, production, and the remedy lies in getting to the rool of Ihe evil instead of applying palliatives to the symptoms. If the. day of radical changes in the structure of our industrial system is inevitable Ihe sooner if, is recognised the bettf.r, and the utmost human effort-must be made to' find a jiim: and permanent modus vivchdi, " .Much of the present, bitterness between the two' great agencies must be due. to misunderstanding or simply blind antagonism, and our unflinching determination should be to dispel these causes by "bringing fin; parties as much as possible together. 1 do not ignore the stupendous difiiouliy' of tho problem, but ii miistjbe faced and solved or national disaster is before us. To this ind the proposal thai.*the Prime .Minister should call a national,industrial conference of both employers and' employed is surety a step in the right''direction, 'I hi- would at, least disclose more, clearly root causes and basic dill', rem es,and open up a possible path to genuine co-operation and industrial conmid. , . 1 "In a land like this, so richly endowed by Nature with all that, is necessary lor solid national comfort and happiness; with ;i sturdy race of purely British blood and a climate thai stimulates energy; it is surely deplorable thai industrial antagonisms should so paralyse the hands of industry and stifle the creation of wealth that many have to face want where plenty should be their lot and comfort their heritage. "That product ion'lll New. Zealand has suffered grievously irpijjqthc causes J have indicated no one can .deny, and the following table is but eloquent proof of thai conclusion : increase Annual or Rxport's 'Average Decrease 1914'.'-'' :: 1915-19 percent. Woo! (lbs) 220.472.C9R 214,008,975 2.9 de. A.'ear (cwt) 3,229,970' .'3,475.407, 7.0 in. Butter (cwt) '434.067 376.154 13.0 de. ( Tieese (cwt) 863.776 ,1.070.936 23.0 in. Tallow (cwt) 490.300 500.5x6 2.0 in. Hides (No.) 412.822 359.293 12.0 de. Hemp (tons)' 23.928 | 26.493 10,0 in. At the (lose of 1919 flicre were in Uore 126,722.232 lbs wool and' 2,107.672 cwt of meat, which, under normal conditions, would nearly all have ftcen exported, and should therefore be crodircd in the above table, in which ease "(he . average for 1915-19 would, in respect lo wool, be increased by over 25.000,000 lbs, and Wotthl convert the apparent shrinkage into, an actual increase. But; even after making-'sill' such allowances, the average increases'are not encouraging {Mid, unless- a great -'(leal 'more is accomplished, the pinch of ' hard times' will be felt with some severity. The values of'our products are declining.'and,-when the Imperial purchasing scheme; tprpii,n.a.tes, a new; si t of conditions is bound to arise—a set of conditions that will be full of"dillicult problems for bankers, business liieu and producers. Wool, meat, ({illow, hides and .skins have already receded from the high level reached since the armistice was signed in 1913. The 'statistical position iti respect to most of Ithesq products makes it inevitable that prices must go lower. in the case [of wool, the quantify' in-liaitd is far in ex.; co.?> »of the consumptive capacity of the available spindles and, 'even if all the spinjles that were inoperation prior to the war were in operation how., the weight of wool would be more than.Qpuld be dealt with in a reasonable Jjrne. With the embargo placed on speculation...by bankers the world over, spinners, only from hand to mouth and i hey'a re ".safe in pursuing Mtcli a policy, for the-wool is at their e;il wherever Ihey require it.' .Meat, too, seem.-, lil;i4v to present serious dilliculties because of ilin enormous quantity in store, 'flu-re is not yet -nflieienl shipping l a\*;iihtble lo clear the cold stores,"awl, even if transportation could be arranged, it would not proven! 'prices from falling, Though some of our I product)) may hold t'o'sotrn thing like their present values—dairy produce for instance—the general tendency-.-is downwards and, .should the decline be anything like 25 per cent., the situation -would- become one of (Home, seriousness, "in tUo sis- years] 1914-19- the years of war prosperity—rlio-g -exports aggregated JJ202.690.695, or an average of £33,765.116 per annum.- A drop of-25 per cent, would I reduce this to £25,323.337, and bring us down to the level of 1914; when the exports, i were valued at a lilthOn'ore than twent-.six millions. Such a shrinkage wotthl be imniejdiately reflected 'in life'.Treasury Returns land, unless the strictest 'economy is exer■cised in every Department-of, the Slate, increased taxation would. im-lhat event, seem lio ba unavoidable, Businesses which have 'been built up on the bask-of-inflated prices. 'aiiiK land values that have- been rush; d i'upwarrfs on the same basis., would suffer t/evcrclv ill Ihe process of deflation."