The Christchurch Star PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. MONDAY, MARCH 14, 1932. NO CHANGE IN EXCHANGE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 372, 14 March 1932, Page 6

The Christchurch Star PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. MONDAY, MARCH 14, 1932. NO CHANGE IN EXCHANGE.

r 1 'HE DECISION of the Government not to interfere with exchange rates has been rather overshadowed by the report of the Economy Commission, but it was, in reality, a logical accompaniment to the report, for the recommendations of the Commission provide for a measure of deflation in the process of getting back to saner standards, whereas exchange, pegged at a high rate, would not only be frankly- inflationary, but would represent an inflationist policy for the benefit of one section of the community at a time when all other sections were called upon to make deflationary sacrifices. It has been pertinently pointed out that those who preach high exchange rates and reduced costs are endeavouring to go in opposite directions at the same time, and in view of the probable renewal by exporting interests of the agitation for a high exchange rate, it is as well to keep this fact firmly in mind. In that connection the experience of Australia is a guide and a warning. It has been estimated, there, that a 30 per cent exchange increases the income of exporters by £30,000,000 per annum, but of this sum the Government, or rather the taxpayer, pays £10,000,000 for exchange requirements, and the remaining £20,000,000 is paid directly by the importer and indirectly by the consumer. As the exporters are both taxpayers and consumers, part of the benefit they receive is simplygiven to be taken away. The cost to the community- is even greater, for the export price of raw products determines the price for home consumption, and the home price of meat, bread and woollens rises not by 30 per cent only, but by a substantially- larger figure, depending on the relation of the cost of the raw material to the retailed article. New Zealand’s credit is greatly enhanced by the avoidance of such dangerous expedients, and she is able also to make a more rapid approach towards the solution of the problem of devaluation. “ DO AS I SAY . . 'V\7’I Til DOCTORS, as with many ' other good people who are occasionally “ cruel only to be kind,” it is a case of “do as I say,” not “do as I do.” The annual dinner of the British Medical Association reveals that doctors do not restrict their diet to the improving things which they prescribe for their patients. Rather they- favour those things which, usually, they sternly- forbid the patient to cat. The truth, of course, is that the doctor is a stern professional man only- when he stands to the rest of mankind in the relation of doctor to patient. When that role is dropped, and he gathers with his brethren in genial social companionship he reveals himself to be much as other men are. The dietary indiscretions that send the man in the street so often to his doctor for relief must as surely set the phy-sician to the task of healing himself. TIMELY CAUTION. 'TMIE CATHEDRAL CHAPTER has shown a nice appreciation of the pitfalls that lie in the way of those who, with the best intentions, are still intent on erecting a war memorial in Cathedral Square. In granting a site in the. Cathedral grounds for such a memorial, the Chapter very- properly insists that a Cross should be the central feature of the monument, as representing self-sacrifice and attainment, and that the whole memorial should harmonise with the Cathedral. The disagreement between the Chapter and the committee emphasises the very- great difficulty inherent in the selection of any war memorial. The trite and the commonplace have so seldom been avoided, indeed, and within the limitations of the memorial under discussion seem so hard to avoid, that it is a question whether the inevitable compromise between the Chapter and the committee will not saddle the city- with a memorial it could well do without, in view of the uniqueness of the Bridge of Remembrance.