DOMINION WILL RECOVER

Taranaki Daily News, 5 September 1932, Page 7

DOMINION WILL RECOVER

P.ERHAPS A LONG STRUGGLE.

BUSINESS MAN’S PREDICTION.

“I do not think there is any doubt but that New Zealand will recover from the present depression,” said Sir James Gunson, who was the speaker at a luncheon on Wednesday of the Auckland Creditmen’s Club, “but we must not be like the ostrich and bury our heads and refuse to see the real position. It may be a struggle, perhaps a long struggle, but we will recover. Of that I am certain.

“We know that times are difficult,” he added, “but we can help ourselves if we ask what those difficulties are and if there is a way out. I don’t profess to speak from a financial, economic, or political view, but from the viewpoint of the business man.”

In order to understand the present position, said the speaker, it was necessary to go back over the past and draw a. picture which might be helpful. Reviewing the period from 1840 to 1890 —50 years—Sir James divided it into three sections, ■ political, land settlement, and commercial. Through periods of adversity and prosperity New Zealand had carried on. The speaker paid a tribute to the foresight of the pioneers who faced difficulties cheerfully in the early days. “But in the late ’eighties and early, 'nineties I want to tell you that the country was in a state of depression just as serious as that of to-day,” Sir James added. “In 1890 times were difficult, and the people did not realise how soon New Zealand would recover. It was remarkable how wonderfully the country recovered from the depression which obtained from 1890 onward. I find it difficult to draw a comparison between the depression existing then and the position obtaining to-day. But we can learn from the past, and I think the recovery of New Zealand from its first depression was due to the coming of the first refrigerating ehip. The arrival of the refrigerating ship enabled the export of meat and dairy produce, and there set in a remarkable growth of activity- in primary industries.

Sir James said in his opinion the first depression was the result of over speculation and inflated land values. That depression, although recovered from, sowed the seed of the present depression. “It is no use blaming anyone in particular,” said Sir James. "We are all responsible; we have to admit we were all parties to it. From 1915 to 1929 we all contributed to it, and it is up to us to help each other to negotiate it.” _ Sir James expressed the opinion that easy borrowing and the introduction of the mechanical vehicle were largely responsible. Millions of pounds were being sent out of -the country to the impoverLdiment of agriculture. Commercial and financial institutions were briefly dealt with by Sir James, who mentioned the solid and great institutions which had been established. All these were . brought about by the men who, in the- early days came from overseas in the first 50 years of the Dominion’s history. To further ■what had been done by the pioneers. Sir James said a regular and growing exporfcjtrade had to be built up. Sir James expressed the opinion that the . present taxation must be reduced, and that State expenditure was going on at an unwarranted high level. “To bring about recovery from the present depression a determining factor is our own work, reorganising of business and holding on to our staffs as long as we can,” concluded the speaker.