NEW ZEALAND’S FINANCE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 15466, 10 March 1921, Page 5

NEW ZEALAND’S FINANCE.

THE SLUMP IN STOCK. “GET BACK TO WORK, THRIFT AND. ECONOMY. Few people seem to realise 'that in normal ’ times the prosperity of New Zealand depends ■ entirely upon its primary products —frozen mutton, beef, out ter, cheese, hemp and other produels •jf the land. When the “man on tinland” is prosperous, every other section of the community shares that prosperity. The collapse of meat prices in overeat markets and. Hie difficuly of shipping our produce are *'responsible for the slump in cattle and sheep —particularly the former —to an almost unprecedented extent. This and the trade' depression overseas are causing financial authorities in the Dominion to view the prospects of tho immediate .future with appreheufion. Palmerston North, being tin entre of an extensive farming district, a Standard representative sought Hu (pillion of the chairman of directors o 1 a financial institution directly in tone! fin tho farming community, and tin handling of their products, and , whose operations extend over the .whole of tin--;out hern portion of the. North Island, n the interview the gentleman referred o said : '*? “1 am asked to give my ideas ns it tho immediate future of the sto.fi market, and probably the; only reply to make is that I have no ppiniop. to give worth listening to —nor do I think that anyone else can say much about it. We are face to face with a-position whici iven the. most far-sighted' never contemplated would end in Such tv debacle, wd in a few’weeks we have gone, hack O years nk far ns the immediate pros >eeis of The producers are concerned—.hen we had -neither freezing companies nor insulated ships to depend on. Added so this, we have enormous taxation to face and -we have got used, to a different standard of living, whilst the ‘go-slow habits, so successfully instituted by the working classes, seem to have got hold .uoro'or less of all members of the community. “For tho preseht, I confess that I can ;ee no immediate prospect t of improve- i •nent. Time must bo allowed for .things to get hack lo normal and to clear away the enormous stocks of. produce which have been allowed to accumulate,, We must get back to the old standards, live less luxuriously and work harder, and gradually things will right-;themselves as the exaggerated perspectives to which wo have, gpt used durjng the lfist fen years return to normal. How long this will take, I have no idea, but I feel sure that, unless the, Government, of this country comes to i.ts senses and realise: wliat. it is up against, ruthlessly cuts, ou l ill, public works,which are not absolutely. necessary, arid makes up- its mind to hop inflation of every kind, things will tot right themselves v6ry quickly.

“For the future, I have no fears. Thr country is v -as ‘sound as a bell' and sooner or later will' re-assoift itself as the

, est in the world. But let us get bad to work, thrift and economy; lock if, our motor cars, put our store plothes ■fio tlie press, and keep*out of ‘pubs.’ clubs and picture shows. We have had •l, good time, arid now we have to fare the music like every other country in the world, but let. our fnotto he : ‘Arc we downhearted? —NO Manawati* Standard.'"?