TOPICS OF THE TIMES

Southland Times, Issue 21821, 26 September 1932, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE TIMES

Britain’s Best Customer.

Commenting on New Zealand’s position at Ottawa The Times remarked in its issue of August s:—“lt is universally recognized that the Dominion has consistently done everything in her power to help British trade. No one can pretend that the preferences she has given are ineffective or illusory. Before the collapse of prices compelled her to take temporary measures to protect the balance of trade the people of New Zealand bought per head from Great Britain goods to the value of well over £l4 a year. In 1919 the exact figure was £l4 11/11 for New Zealand, £8 10/2 for Australia, £4 3/8 for South Africa and £3 12/6 for Canada. In the foreign countries which come into consideration it was £3 0/8 for Denmark, £2 12/10 for Argentina, 15/5 for France, 11/6 for Germany, 7/6 for the United States, and 6d for Russia. No man can doubt the justice of New Zealand’s claim that, more than any other country within or without the Empire, she deserves the most favoured treatment for her produce in the English market. Silver Currency.

Addressing the shareholders of a Bengal iron company in London, Mr W. Turner McLellan remarked:—“l agree with Lord Desborough and Sir Robert Horne that the most hopeful quick method of improving trade and increasing credit throughout the world, and particularly in the East, is a reversion to bi-metallism. During the first three-quarters of the last century when bi-metallism was in vogue, silver varied very slightly round 5/- an ounce, but in 1873 Germany, by collaring 200 millions of French gold for reparations, disorganized the financial world, and bi-metallism went by the board. Since then the fluctuations in silver have been very severe. ‘Empty mangers make biting horses,’ and the countries to suffer most were Mexico and China, and much of the trouble in these countries, I think, has been really due to the silver fluctuations. If the principal countries of the world restored silver on a basis of, say, 2/6 an ounce, it would stabilize finance among about half the world’s population, and the reflex action on the rest of the world would be enormous, owing to their increased purchasing power on a fixed basis, and hoarding would be reduced.”

Irish Land Annuities. “What are these Irish land annuities?” said Sir John Simon, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in a recent speech. “They are based upon actual transactions which have been entered into by Irish farmers for the purpose of buying their holdings. The British Government borrowed from individual lenders the money by means of which the land was bought and guaranteed repayment to the lenders on the faith of the promise that those terminable half-yearly instalments, paid by the purchasers, representing interest and sinking fund, would be regularly forthcoming. These annuities are therefore, in origin, debts due from one set of individuals, the Irish tenants, to another set of individuals, those who lent the purchase money, and they represent the means by which hundreds of thousands of Irish tenants are in course of becoming owners of their farms by the payment of instalments which, it may be noted, are little more than half the amount payable as rent prior to the purchase. . . It is obvious, of course, that this case has no sort of analogy with war debts; indeed, Ireland is the one country in Europe, besides Belgium, which has been forgiven its share of 'war debt altogether. Mr de Valera’s Government, in first collecting the money from the Irish farmers and then retaining it, is claiming in substance to force British taxpayers, who have to find the interest on Irish land stock, to pay the balance of the purchase price for the benefit of the present Irish owners who are in actual possession of the land.”