NATIONAL BANK OF N.Z.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 17871, 30 August 1932, Page 2

NATIONAL BANK OF N.Z.

A DIFFICULT YEAR PRICES & WELFARE SIR AUSTIN HARRIS’ ADDRESS At tie sixtieth ordinary general meeting of the National Bonk of New Zero land, LinriUd, held in London on Wy 12 Sir Austin E. Hams, K-BE., cUair man of the company, presided. After paving a tribute to the iare ch»rW BeevejS Jir Austin Harris said the year and«r i,„,i been one of unrelieved depression ind great difficulty. Commodity prices had continued on the down grade, wit - out any definite signs and neither the abandonment oftheg standard nor the adjustment of «>lo™a exchanges had as yet produced any alleviation in this respect. It was ta be ' hoped that some alleviation from the proceedings of the World Ec nomic Congress, to he set up in autumn, especially to explore - sider the urgent problem of pnco levels. Economic laws of supply and demand, combined with public and private economy, would doubtless in time work their own cure, painful and prolonged though the process might be, he acmeu. Dealing with some of tlm principal features of the past.year as they nnwe particularly concerned the Dominion aud the bank/Sir Austin said the staple products of New Zealand-dairy produce, meat and wool—had shown a progressive fall in .values for the las tour years. The fall & exports had reduced the national income, which was estimated at £150,000,000 and now was estimated at £lQo,UoO,w'j. This had been followed by heavy reductions of imports as under: Year to March, 1929, £45,105,000; year to March, 1932, £23,166,000; decrease; £21,940,000, or 48.6 per cent. Great. Britain was New Zealand’s principal customer, and Sir Austin quoted figures of the Dominion’s trade with this country and the rest of the world over the last five years to give two clear indications; first, that Hie economic existence of New Zealand depended on her trade with Great Britain, and, secondly, that the balance of trade she carried” on with foreign countries and other Dominions was unfavorable. Sir Austin also gave a summary of the trade situation with Canada, and expressed the hope that the trade agreement recently concluded would lead in time to a revival. PUBLIC FINANCE “Turning to public finance,” he said, “the final Budget figures for the year ended March 31 last point to a deficit of £2,141,000, or £400,000 better than was anticipated, revenue being £22,720,000 and expenditure £24,861,000. Extraordinary expenditure during the last year includes £1,120,000 subsidy to the unemployment fund and £374,000 for exchange purposes. “The Minister of Finance estimates that for the year ended March 31, 1933, the deficit will be £8,300,000, which he at first proposed to reduce to £2,000,000 (by economies representing £4;100,000 and additional taxation representing £2,200,000—£6,300,000. The additional taxation has, however, been avoided by means of a loan of £2,500,000 to the New Zealand Government provided by the Bank of New Zealand and ourselves against reserves in the discharged soldiers’ settlement mortgages. This assistance by the two New Zealand banks is in addition to their share of providing the large general requirements of the Government iii London and the Dominion. HEAVY TAXATION "New Zealand, like ourselves, is heavily taxed. For the year ended March 31, 1929, Government taxation amounted to £17,832,000; for 1930 it was £19,471,000; and for 1931, £18,878,000. . . , . “I do not propose to go into the schemes for relief and assistance, which ' are receiving the most anxious consideration; but 1 may say that, with the increased taxation of Is in the £ and the continuance of the levy of £1 per head, the revenue of the Unemployment Board is expected to be £3,600,000 for this year. The latest figures I have before me show that the registered unemployed reached a total of 48,601, of whom 29,774 were on relief work. “These are the bare facts, but all of you will realise that, with a* population of only about 1,500,000, great sacrifices and hardships have been made and suffered by the whole Dominion. Mr. W. Downie Stewart, the Finance Minister, recently stated that in the three years to March 31 last economies and adjustments /have been effected to the extent of £5,940,000. Our New Zealand people have never failed to meet all Calls on i their courage and ability and they will not fail now. “The net public debt at March 31, 1931, was £275,700,000, of which, say, one-third is made up of war debts. Of this debt, £154,500,000, or 56 per cent., was domiciled in London; £117,300,(XX), or 42.5 per cent., in New Zealand, and £4,175,000, or 1.5 per cent., in Aus-

“CENTRAL HEATING" FOR NEW ZEALAND. AN AMERICAN ANGLE ON “BAXTER’S." Two American ladies from California were giving New Zealand a quick once over. They arrived in Christchurch on a cold and frosty evening, with one suffering from a cold. The cause of the cold was attributed t»y them to the lack of central heating in certain hotels. Their howt for the evening provided “Baxter's Lung Preserver" for the suffering one, who took a liberal dose. “Well,” she exclaimed, as she experienced the pleasant, warming penetrating qualities of “Baxter’s," “I'll say there’s nothing wrong with this kind of ‘central heating.’ ” The next day she was much better and said she could now understand ■why New Zealanders did not seem td worry much about getting cblds when they had such a splendid specific as “Baxter’s.” On repeated occasions visitors to New Zealand have remarked on the outstanding qualities of Baxter’s Lung Preserver, which itppearA 'to have no superior anywhere; “Baxter’s” is unique in its effectiveness and restorative qualities owing to its wonderful tonic properties. All chemists and stores sell “Baxter’s” in bottles at 1/6, 2/6 and 4/6.* tralia. No portion of the debt held overseas, beyond Australia, matures until June, 1934, when the 135,000,000 raised in London in June, 1931, falls due, and of the remaining £17,000,000 due in that year I understand the greater part is held by State departments in New Zealand." The banking situation and exchange question were touched on, Sir Austin pointing out that the considered opinion of all the banks „except one was that the temporary advantage to the ptoducei ■