SQUANDERING.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 14199, 26 August 1919, Page 5

SQUANDERING.

A SOLEMN WARNING. j { ‘ Herald ’ 7 Correspondent.) CONDON, July 1. Sir Auckland Geddes, at Crewe Men’s Own Brotherhood: “The money that is being squandered on things which are of no value is colossal. . . . The people ■who had the cash are following courses which threatened to destroy our victory. There was more beer being brewed, for example, in this country. (A voice: “It it weaker. ”) It was more in quantity than before the war. Why did people say the quantity was short? Because it was being swilled at twice the rate; because there was more time to drink it in, and more money to pay for it. As a result the brewers have to send overseas for more hops and barley. By sending overseas for beer, silk for stockings, feathers for hats, we were increasing our debt overseas for things that did not matter. What w t c had to get was food and raw material. The more money we sent away for things that did not matter, the more we paid for the things that did matter. The price of food next winter would climb to a level none dreamed of. (A voice: “More wages.”) There would be no money to pay wages, because it would have to go overseas for food. Money for wages means nothing when there is no real value behind. This country has forgotten the value behind money. The value behind was new things that were produced for money. Our manufacturers were forced to charge twice as much as America, and there were fewer markets in the world than ever before. Limitation of output was extraordinarily foolish. The mill owners limited output to got higher prices, and operatives to make more work for more people. It was stark, staring lunacy. ... We are losing a lot of our remaining bits of markets by transport delay. There was a real transport failure in this country just now. With regard to the general situation, he was not pessimistic, because he had the greatest trust in the intelligence and public spirit of the people; but it would be no easy task after five years of blowing capital to pieces. You cannot live like millionaires if yon are as poor as a church mouse. That is what wc are today. This nation is now poor. It is living as if it were wealthy. The classes throwing the heaviest strain upon fho overseas markets are Ihc classes whose income is in the form of wages. The wealthy people are so few it would not matter much what (hoy did. Bread next winter was more useful than foa- | thors this summer. Only by keeping steady, by understanding one another’s point of' view, and by exercising patience could we hope to get through to a really satisfactory position. We live by production, credit, and transport, and must call to yonr aid all the old patient toughness that had never deserted us in time of trial.”