TURN OF THE TIDE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21423, 22 February 1933, Page 6

TURN OF THE TIDE

-NEW SOUTH WALES AFFAIRS PREMIER'S CHEERY OPTIMISM [THE DEPRESSION PSYCHOLOGY [from otjr own correspondent] SYDNEY. Feb. 16 I 'A striking speech was made this week by the Premier of New South Wales, Mr. Stevens, showing the tremendous change for the better in the economic position for the State since June last, when Mr. Lang and his Labour followers went out of power. Ore-third of the factory employees who had lost their jobs since the depression he said, had got them back again in recent months on a permanent basis. Returns showed an increase of more than 13 per cent in the number of factory employees at the end of 1932. In the metal trades the number increased from 8400 to 11,200 in 12 months, and there has been an increase of £6,000,000 in the wages bill of retail shops. Returns showed substantial increases in many other directions, and the most general index of business turnover—bank clearances—showed a rise of 10 per cent since last February. Building permits for the four quarters of last year, were 117, 114, 197 and 217 respectively, and for January thin year the figures were more than half the total for ~tfa» last quar--1 ter of 1932, , Win for Sane Democracy The improvement was due to sound causes, such as a closer harmony between costs and prices; a reduction of taxation and charges; a removal of fear of.the imposition of confiscatory taxation; greater velocity of spending due to a revival of privato enterprise; a restoration of the sanctity of the contract and the security of investments; and the continuance of favourable seasons. Of those things all but the last were possible only under an orderly and business Government. They were a triumph for sane democracy. Now the air was sweeter and clearer and a sound basis existed for business expansion. Even if export prices remained as they were, said Mr. Stevens, there was every prospect of business expansion. However, export prices were bound to go up, for the world was at, or near, a turning point toward general recovery. The Government's plans for credit expansion by means of capital development works were now well advanced. The Government had the money with which to commence very shortly to expand the rate of loan and unemployment relief expenditure, which had been extremely low for more than a year. ■ . "Expand on Sound Lines' I.^ 1 .^ The Premier concluded his speech with an appeal to everybody to "step out and ' expand on pound lines ' in order to share in the improvement. "Do not tie up your funds and leave them idle,", he said, "but put them to productive use at rates which borrowers can pay. Take some risk if necessary, / and you will- find that the ,-risk will prove less than the shocks of the past may have led you to expect. We have to keep abreast of the times and 6hake off the depression psychology. Today is the, day of the expansionist, and above all, let us turn our backs on grumbling and.fault-finding."