RENT AND INTEREST

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 24 February 1931, Page 8

RENT AND INTEREST

BE-ADJUSTMENT WOULD BE HELPFUL (Contributed.) In the stress and uncertainty of the existing industrial unrest many retailers are having a particularly “lean ‘ time, being menaced on the one hand by tlie Scvlla of high rent, and on the oilier by (lie, Charybdis of excessive cost of goods. Their biggest overhead is invariably rent, and in the general overhaul of tlie cost of living the landlord must he prepared to play his part. Every section of the community must realise that whatever reductions take place in wages and prices and costs it must be shared by all. If there is any evasion, then to that extent is the day of a return to sound conditions delayed and the more difficult it will be lor the community to help in the general plan for an all-round lowering of costs. It must lie remembered that thousands of shareholders in various companies and businesses have had to he content with reduced dividends, or no dividend at all, over a period of years; yet. during that time rent, and interest have remained at comparatively high rates. It should bn obvious that there must he a reduction in both, in bring them into line with the lessened value of money and wages. Supply and demand may he a fixed law, but in time of crises its stability as an economic fact can he mtfiiitaineil only by adjusting itsell to altered conditions. Rent and inleiest will still have to he paid but they must hear their due proportion to tlie other costs of living. The Prime Minister has made a. public appeal to mortgagees, stock and station agents, banks and others who have lent money to farmers, to deal reasonably with ’ borrowers in the interests of the country as well as of those of the primary producers; and the same claim on behalf of the consumers is also justifiable. _ . . . Effectual co-operation is absolutely essential in order to gather together the many strands that represent society as a whole. Reductions in rent, and interest and wages will not alone achieve all that is desired. Every branch of commerce, industry, transport, marketing, distribution, sports and amusements must be linked up so that the crisis shall bo faced with a: combination irresistible in its influence and power. The Government has given a lead, and business firms not affected by awards of tbe Arbitration Court ha\ e followed suit. The next move must come from landlords, merchants,_ the professions, and retailers. There is no class that can claim to he exempt from the necessity of helping the common cause. \ All shared in the benefits of the prosperous years; all must share proportionately in whatever economies are now necessary. These are limes in which it has become necessary to readjust our views as to the relative value of money, and a reasonable discounting will help considerably to lessen (he community's difficulties.