NEW ZEALAND PRODUCE

Te Puke Times, 21 June 1921, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND PRODUCE

MR. BEAUCHAMP’S VIEWS NO BIG RECOVERY TO BE EXPECTED In his address at the annual meeting of the Bank of New Zealand, Mr H. Beauchamp, chairman of directors, dealt at length with the state of New Zealand trade and its prospects. With respect to butter, Mr Beauchamp said:—

"The past dairy produce seasson has been an excellent one, and our concern is now with next season! It is most difficult for anyone to express a definite opinion on the prospects, because the conditions are subject to 'violent changes, but there are some basic facts that need to be kept well in mind. The first is that Britain is our best, and practically the only custemer we have for our dairy produce. This customer has been impoverished by tjie war, bj internal strikes and political unrest and by the inability of Europe to purchase goods except at small prices, in reduced quantities, and on long terms of credit. It would be folly to expect that butter will again sell at £2BO a ton, but just what it is likely to rule at will der pend upon the developments of the next eight or ten weeks. The British Food Ministry will have a large carry-over of butter, and the quantity in prjvafe hands is also likely to be substantial. The Imperial authorities have made repeated cuts in their butter prices ; still the Danes have been able, or have been forced, to sell at a lower rate to obtain quittance. The Danish producer can* not afford to hold his butter for any fancy price, and is ready to meet the market, However, it does not seem possible that butter will fall to the 1914 average of 116 a per cwt. While not venturing upon a forecast of the price, I am satisfied that it will be much lower than the prices paid by the Imperial Government during the war.-V

WOOL The wool market,, says Mr Beauchamp, has apparently fallen to its lowest point—at all events, for the time being—and there is more activity. The problem is to market the mass of wool in store.

"The proposal to uphold values by arbitrarily fixing prices does not commend itself to me, for I hold the opinion that values can be created only by the inexorable law of supply and demand, and not by any artificial means. All commodities satisfying human wants can be sold at a price, and it is for the settler, in the ordinary course of trade, to ascertain what that price is and to meet the market as best he may, and so endeavour to stimulate the consumptive demand. Wool is one of the necessaries of life—at least, to the peoples of Europe and North America, and some other countries—land therefore there will always be a demand for it. Large though the accumulations are now, they would be speedily reduced if the people of Europe were able to make purchases, but they unable to buy through sheer inability to pay for the goods. They are literally poverty-stricken, and must be accommodated in the best way possible. Until Central and Eastern Europe are able to absorb wool, the market will be in an unstable condition, gig-zagging up and down and causing a great deal of trouble.” THE WORLD OUTLOOK. Mr Beauchamp points out that Britain is our best customer, and says that the speed of recovery there depends bn developments in Europe. The trade and commerce of the world cannot be reinstated without the inclusion of central Europe and Russia. "In every country it is desirable that bureaucratic control and interference with trade, commerce, and industry should cease. Politicians should attend to their proper occupation of managing the national affairs with efficiency and economy, and leave the industrialists, the manufacturers, andjthe traders to attend to their business—that of making their respective businesses successful. Hard work and thrift are still the only way to salvation. Capital and labour must be drawn closer together. It is a truism to say that ther,e is a general desire to give to labour a fair share in the results of industry, preferably in the form of high wages for efficient production, but Labour must realise that the laws of Nature cannot be defied without serious consequences. It would be idle to look for anv big recovery in prices of produce, so we must endeavour to make production pay on the basis of present prices, and to that end ♦here must be a contraction of profits and wages,, with greatly increased efficiency of production. The cost of living must be reduced. The extremes of optimism and pessimism should be avoided.