THE MONETARY SYSTEM

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21807, 23 May 1934, Page 15

THE MONETARY SYSTEM

Sir, —Your correspondent "W.D.M" savs that "excessive costs" are the chief stumbling block to recovery. Does he suggest that wages are too high. r bo, the whole weight of responsible opinion is against him. fho recent tieeisions of many big British inclustrialists to restore wage cuts surely indicate a complete reversal of the former policy. At the last annual meeting of shareholders, Lord Melchett, head of the great Imperial Chemical Combine, said: "To achieve economic stability wo shall have to revise completely our vioivs on economics and financial questions. We must learn the economics of plenty forget the economics of scarcity. This is not a crisis of over-production, but of underconsumption. We must adopt some system of making money fit commodities and not try to make commodities fio money." It is interesting to note that this company recently advanced wages by 10 per cent, and inaugurated a five-day week. Lord Leverhulme, president of the London Chamber of Commerce, and head of the great soap and margarine works, spoke in a similar strain. "The essence of the problem is to increase purchasing power, that is, to give human beings the means of absorbing and enjoying their own production," said Lord Leverhulme. And Mr. Malcolm Stewart, chairman of Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers, at the annual meeting last month, said: —" I hope that Britain will take the lead in demonstrating that mechanism need not enslave man, but give him greater freedom, that it need not mould him into a mechanical robot, but enable him to live nearer to nature and bring increased health and happiness through higher wages and shorter working hours." R. C. Simmons.