DUNEDIN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3415, 29 August 1919, Page 7

DUNEDIN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

DINNER AND ANNUAL. MEETING. The thirty-second annual meeting of the Dnnedin Chamber of Commerce, held on the 26th in the .Strand Tea Rooms, was preceded by a dinner at which a large number of gentlemen were present. Ample justice was done to the repast that was spread, and the business meeting was then proceeded with. The President (Mr J. B. Waters) moved the adoption of the report and balance sheet, in the course of his address said : Referring to the problems of the moment as they confronted us in New Zealand, he said we had. as a nation, to consider the carrying of the burden of our national debt, and especially our war dabt, the repatriation of our soldiers on a generous scale, the development of our national resources, and the general advancement of our people, and we had to face these propositions in an atmosphere of industrial unrest and political disturbance. The principal cause of this unrest _ was the increase in the cost of living, arising from the .tremendous advance in price levels during the last five years. / As usual prices had risen much more rapidly than wages, and the appalling gap between the necessities and the income of the mass of the people naturally led to angry criticism of our economic and social system in general, and the powers that be in particular, while charges of profiteering and exploitation descended like rain upon both the just and the unjust. The plain fact was that under the dire necessity of financing the war, the belligerent nations had resorted to a systematic expansion of the currency. This had destroyed the equilibrium which normally txisted between money and goods, and, in order to regain the balance, prices began to rise. The disturbance ill the purchasing power was further accentuated by an increase in the velocities of circulation, and a decrease in production, both of which directly contributed to rising values. Thus, the commercial world entered upon one of these unhealthy cycles when, to quote Professor Fisher, " The initial rise of prices sets in motion a train of events which tends to repeat itself. Rise of prices generates rise of prices, and continue to do so, so long as the interest rate lags behind its normal figure." Producers, distributors, and consumers were all caught in this great tidal wave of advancing prices, and sink or swim in its turbid waters, as helpless individually as straws in a whirlpool. For the general ar T 'ince in the price level the trader was certainly not responsible, and it was as illogieal to blame him for making money on a rising market, as it would be co praise him for losing money on a falling one. Nevertheless, we must distinguish between what might be termed legitimate profit and what was popularly known as profiteering. Co-incident with the general and inevitable advance in pricots there had been, and still were, opportunities to extract undue profits in_ many lineSj of which the rapacious and unscrupulous had not _ been slow to avail themselves. "It is so easy to make money." said an old and experienced trader, "that it seems almost a shame to take it off the people," and under such circumstances no doubt many of them were "astounded at our own moderation." The National Government, through the Board of Trade, very rightly exercised control over the prices of some 40 articles of daily use, chiefly food stuffs, but it might very easily have extended the list to the advantage of the long suffering consumer, and to the satisfaction of the conscientious trader. Beyond the specific list referred to, the authorities had done nothing to check profiteering or to bring into operation "The Regulation of Trade and Commerce Act. 1914," which remained a dead letter throughout the war. If we were to meet our national responsibilities, we must have co-operation, increased production, and thrift, and they would agree that while these factors were interdependent, they must be placed in their logical sequence; for, without the first the second and third were unattainable. The fundamental question was therefore how we could best promote cooperation, confidence, and goodwill between man and man. In the first place he thought we must admit that the new price level was likely to be permanent, and that a readjustment of Wages, salaries, and pensions must take place, wherever it had not already been effected, and that thi3 advance must come very largely out of net profits, and must not be passed on to the consumer. He knew this was a hard saying, but ho was quite certain that most profit and loss accounts could stand it. In the second place we nrust,_ in common with the rest of the community, insist on very drastic legislation in regard to profiteering. If they, as directors of trade and industry, could not adequately readjust wages and salaries which were under their control, and especially those which

were not subject to arbitration awards, and if they did not vigorously assist in curtailing the undue profits, of which the public rightly complained, they would never inspire the confidence and co-operation whioh was as essential to a nation as it vyas fo a business concern. But something more was required than a mere financial adjustment. Capital and Labour must become partners in reality. Were we prepared to give Labour the status and the reward of a partner? Was Labour prepared to accept tho responsibilities of a partnership? He could net an-.'.ver these questions, but in almost every ndustry it was evident that the time had arirved when employers and employees must come together in friendly conference for the common good, and that sane intelligent Labour must have a say in the control of the job. Either that or we would have State control with the cast iron rules, the conservatism, and the general rigidity of a bureaucracy. In experimental reform of the kind suggested there was no need to wait for political action —the way was open for each individual firm or company. But unless employers were prepared to meet employees in frequent conference, and unless we could jointly produce cheerful, unselfish team work all this talk about increasing production and encouraging thrift was sheer futility. Goodwill, co-opera-tion, and mutual confidence made increased production merely a matter of organisation and management, and as we all knew everything came out of output. He would not weary men of their experience with details, but he submitted that, in order to attain increased production both in our primary and secondary industries we required more man power, a scientific readjustment of that power and improved methods as regards the handling of both the personal and the mechanical factors of industry. Foremost among the mechanical factors we must place power and transportation. The whole future of secondary industry depended upon a supply of power whioh would be cheap, reliable, and flexible, and just as we must develop power, so we must increase facilities for transportation, not only internally but overseas. The essence of modern trade was transportation. As an island community our commercial future lay on the water. The gatewav of our prosperity was the sea, and we could not consent that the keys of the gate should be in the hands of directors in London or America, -whose primary and natural concern must be not for our prosperity, but for their own .dividends. The next essential for this country was the minimising of non-productive expenditure. This was an unpalatable, though sovereign, remedy for financial difficulties, and while We heard a great deal to-day of more output, better conditions, of new social and political measures, we heard precious little about thrift. Yet it was absolutely essential. He had no new commercial gospel to expound. The prosperity of New Zealand had been built up by co-operatoin and industry and self-denial. There was no other way, no conjuring trick which could be played with the. standards of exchange, no scheme of State ownership or State control which would obviate the necessity for good will and hard work and self-sacrifice. If our friends' in the extreme Labour Party would onlv recognise this, and give up dancing their perpetual haka, then we might do some eroqd work together. If they would not, then the great mass composing the sane intelligent democracy of New ' Zealand must go on without them, but politics was not our metier. We tajlked of pre-war values. He said we could never revert to pre-war conditions. When the youth of this dominion enlisted for the duration of the war they put their lives in jeopardy for our liberty, our rights, our wealth. Were we to be iess generous? We had made war profits, and he had defended these where they had been made legitimately (he was not referring to the nitiful plundering of the profiteer), but we made war profits only because the Empire was at war. No mere fluctuation of the market produced these profits. Men's live 3 were thrown into the scale—men's lives and the sacrifice and the suffering of the nations. Morally thiss constituted these war profits as a sacred trust for the common benefit. How were we going to administer this trust? To-day we stood at the parting of the ways. The wool, meat, and produce, the manufactures and the raw materials, the things we handled for a living, were seen and temporal. They passed away with the using of them, and what remained? That which was eternal, the characters of the men who dealt with these things in the great public service of industry and commerce. The report and balance sheet were adopted. The following office-bearers were appointed :—President,. Mr J. B. Waters; vice-president, Mr Thomas Somerville; hon. auditor, Mr W. Crawford; and members of council—Messrs J. Bews, H. Isaacs, A. E. Usberwood, J. E. Macassey, F. M. Shortt, and H. W. Jones A special meeting of the chamber was then held, at which the following motion was carried:—"That the chamber's scale of mercantile charges be and is hereby amended under tho heading of ' Property,' by dsleting the figures '£lsoo' in tho ■second and third lines, and inserting in place thereof tbe figures-' £2500.' " It 'was further resolved—" That in accordance with the provisions of Article Ha of the Articles of Association, Mr Walter Grow is hereby made and declared to bo a life member of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce." . . The remainder of the evening was devoted to social intercourse, and the proposing of a number of toasts.