BOARD OF TRADE BILL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17729, 13 September 1919, Page 7

BOARD OF TRADE BILL

SECOND READING DERATE. PAHRF. OF HIGH COST OF LIVING-. (EEB UHITKD PHKS3 Assqciamqh.) WF.T.IiTNGTON, September 12. . In moving the second reading of the Board of Trade Bill in tho Housa of Representatives to-nigilt tho Ptjn;o Minister said tile measure had attracted attention throughout tha dominion, and even outsido the dominion!, and lie hoped the House ■would do it justice, lie list pact of tho 831 provided far the setting up of a board tof trade, while tho second part dealt wiUi the fuactSonaof the board, Thero was a widespread opinion that a good deal of profiteering was going on, but he desired to point oat that prices always rose alter war, and must iaevit&bly do so because so many toea who formerly wore producers went into tha trenches, and production went down. Though it waa that prioss had gone up in tie dominion, it was some consolation to know that tho cost of living had risen less in New thnn in mosH otWei consitiioa in tho worid, especially Engiaani Ho had repeatedly heard it said that tho coat of living had not risen in France, but he road a list of articles in common us© in that country to dhow that it had risen there very conaderably. It had also been said that the Government should have legislated to keep down tha cost of the primary products, but it must not bo forgotten that the cost of production had gusatly increased, and ho ventured to say that the profits of the farmer were no greater to-day than before th© war. It must abo be remembered that the cost of tho things which, we imparted had also increased. There was only one way to keep down tho cost of living, and that tas to etop profiteering, and that was the object of the Bill. He was afraid that v people hardly realised all that the Government had done to keep down tho coat of living, and he proceeded to relate the arrangement made under which batchera could get meat from the freeing companies, declaring that better arrangements could not have been made in the interests of the people. Hie arrangement made with ths Colonial Sugar Company was most advantageous and had kept the price of sugar in New Zealand lower than in any other part of the world. Butter had been sold to the consumer during tho past season" at loss than the export value, and in the coming season consumers would not have to pay more than they did two years ago. Then tlie Customs duties had not been increased except in two instances. Against that, tho salaries of those in the puidio service had been raised to meet the oost of living where the Government oould not prevent it from, rising. In addition, toare was the moratorium,. which had been, of great service in establishing the rate of interest In all these respects the efforts of the Government had had a most salutary effect. Mucih had been s&jd a-bout the Government n °t giving" effect to the recommendations of the Cost of Living Carmriission. One of these recommendations was the appointment of a food controller, but he pointed out that such, an officer in England was appointed to ration the people tmrt not to keep down the cost of living, and he (Mr Massey) would not havo liked to have applied, in New Zealand l some of the methods of -the Food Controller in Britain or America. The Board of Trade was substituted for the food controller, and the Bill before _ tli3 gave it ample power to deal with situations likely to arise wliich it had not had up to the present. He quoted other Acts passed against trusts and combines to prevent the undue raising of prices. As a matter of fact; nearly the whole of the recommendations of the commission had been given effect to. He did not approve of the proposal of the commission that we should create a fleet of ships at present, as tho cost of construction was too high. He thought tho most we could do for the time being was to endeavour to regulate freights. -Much had bean. said about what tho Government of Queensland had done to keep down tho cost of living, but the official figures showed that while the cost of living in New Zealand had risen 33.2 per cent, in Queensland the increase was 51.8 per cent. Ho read official reports to show the enviable position of New . Zealand so far as boots were concerned, boots being sold in Wellington

cheaper than in London. This he claimed, was duo to tho legislation passed by tho National Government for the purpose of keeping down tha pric© of food and clothing to tho people. Ho then briefly referred to the various clauses of tho Bill, claiming that all possible power would be given to tho board by regulation to enforce the provisions of the meastoe. He was sure that though members might differ from him and from some of tho details of the Bill he v,&3 convinced that they wou'd endorse its' principles and placo it cid 'tho' Statute Book. Sir Joha Fmdlay dealt at length with tho proposals of Professor Irving Fisher, ot Yale University, on establishing our money values. Th© purchasing power of the sovereign had fallen all over the world, and to-day it was worth only 13s 2d. Most people thought that the war explained all this, but that was not so, because there was a manifest increase in tho cost of living before the war, and it would go on after the var unless w© found soma moans of stabilis ing the standard of the money units. Our present troubles arose from the fact that our sovereign was not standardised. it had no standard value, as the only thing about it which the State guaranteed was that it must contain a certain weight of gold. _ It was, in faot, almost the only thing in Christendom which was not standardised, as all our weights and measures had been. What we had to do was to reverse our present order of proceduro by having instead of a fixed sovereign of a fixed weight in trold, a sovereign of fixed purchasing power- and therefore of fluctuating weigiit in gold. Ho recognised that any change in our money system was difficult to achieve occause so many peoplo thought that any such suggestion was scandalous, and it sometimes required 9. revolution to effect the desired changes, as in the case of the French Revolution, which gave Franco her metric system, which wo should adopt. He hoped that the great war would so enlighten us as to enable us to see the necessity for many changes m our financial system. The cause of the rise in the cost o£ living was tho instability of. standard values. Strikes and many other causes were said to bo at the root of the increasing prices. These no doab-, did contribute, but only in a small degree. Tho real root cause was the diminishing purchasing power of our money standard! For the future wo should purchase • commodities in a basis index number, which would bo fixed every three months. No gold coin should be issued, but gold certificates, which would be given tho added or, diminished gold value of tho commodities, should be used as tho purchasing mediums. He recognised that the subject was too intricate to bo made clear in all details in one short speech, but he hoped lie had enlisted the interest of members, and ho hoped th» Government would vratah tho proceedings of the commissions which were investigating it in other countries and that later on wo should, liavo a commission of experts jn Now ZgsJsjkl to invcsti.ini'tG it for tfurselves. Mr Malcolm contended that tho increased prices wero due to the great universal shortage of necessary commodities. Ho helieved that out real remedy was tho practice of economy. The Hon. Mr Buddo combated Mr Malcolm's idea of rigid economy as a" rcmedv for our troubles. Ho advocated a reasonable standard of comfort as the best means of keeping up our markets and a demand for our commodities. Tho Hon. Mr Hanan said the land was the food store of the world, and tho adoption of - small holdings was tho remedy for the- high cost of living because thereby increased production would be stimulated. Mr Ell said he thought the Bill was capable of doing great good for tho peoplo of the dominion. He hoped that as soon as tho Act was signed by the Governor-general the board would be set up and put to workto cheapen the cost of living and so let the people indulge in tho old-fas! lioncd idea of a home. On tho motion of the Hon. Mr MacdonnJd tho debate adjourned till Tuesday, and tho Houso roso at .10-55 p.m.