NEW ZEALAND’S PROBLEM

Taranaki Daily News, 26 August 1931, Page 8

NEW ZEALAND’S PROBLEM

FINANCIAL READJUSTMENT ECONOMIC EXPERT’S OPINIONS. "RESOURCES- MUST BE POOLED.” By Telegraph.—Press Association. * Wellington, Last Night. An important statement regarding ths economic problems of the Dominion was made to-day by Processor Copland in an interview prior to his departure for Australia by the Maunganui. Professor Copland, professor of economics at Melbourne University and a former New Zealander, has spent three weeks in Wellington investigating the economic and financial position of the Dominion, and his statement was made with due regard to the facts as he saw them.

"The fall in export prices has been of the order of 40 per cent.” said Professor. ■Copland. "This has reduced the spending power of the rural producers and has caused a serious decline in the. demand for locally produced goods and services. The national income as a whole has been seriously , contracted. This process is going on now at an increasing rate.

“Productive capacity has not been impaired. Indeed, as in Australia, the volume of exports production has been increasing,' but its maintenance depends upon an adjustment of all costs to income. To meet the fall in the national income and the general decline in prices an adpustment of public and • private finance is required. The process of adjustment has not proceeded far; it must be accelerated if unemployment is to be checked and financial stability restored.

“There is no doubt about the ultimate capacity of the Dominion to solve the present difficulties, but the solution depends upon the readiness of every section to ac-.. cept its full meayure of responsibility in the common task.

“The economic depression is so -wide-, spread and the fall in prices so serious that a return to the, financial and economic standards of the post-war era cannot be expected. New Zealand will not be immune from the troubles that afflicted other primary producing countries. Her credit is high and she should seek by every means in her power to preserve. this cherished possession, but it can only be preserved by facing the full- facts of the position.

"To adjust public end private finance to the falling national income as measured in money values is the problem that has confronted all countries at some time in their history. The magnitude of the problem to-day is greater than at any time in the history of New Zealand, and the solution will require the pooling, of her resources of leadership and knowledge. It is only by common agreement that adequate measures can be taken, and these measures must involve general sacrifice and a review of the economic policy.”