HIGH EXCHANGE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 849, 24 August 1933, Page 12

HIGH EXCHANGE.

Attitude of Coalition Candidate. POLICY DEFENDED. The policy of the Government in pegging the exchange rate at a premium of 25 per cent was defended by Mr F. W. Freeman, Coalition Candidate for the Lyttelton seat, in his address at Cashmere last evening. Mr Freeman admitted that he had changed his opinions on the question of high exchange and declared that when the whole story was told it would be found that the step taken by the Government would save the Dominion millions of pounds. “One section of the community,” he said, “will tell you that the Government was wrong in pegging exchange to 25 per cent and that as a result the cost of living has gone up. On the contrary it has gone down. Others will tell you that because exchange was pegged high, the price of our products fell in England. “To find the truth of this the New Zealand Associated Chambers of Commerce, cabled the British Chambers of Commerce, and the reply came back: ‘Pegged exchange has had nothing to do with fall in price of your products.' “Desperate Conditions.” “I will admit at once that when pegging was first mentioned I, without much thought, was opposed to it, and under ordinary conditions artificial interference with exchange is wrong, but our conditions were not normal, they were desperate. Face the facts, and then have faith in a Government that will prove they were right and their critics wrong. The Government recognised that the farmer had to be helped and considered this the best way to help him. It must be remembered that the farmer feeds and clothes the multitude, on his welfare all depends: get him on the road to rscovery and prosperity for the rest must surely follow. “This fundamental truth is being followed closely by the nations of the Empire and is the declared policy of the Coalition Government. The terrible spectre of unemployment has only risen over the prostrate form of our primary industries. So long as our primary producer is what his name implies, the fundamental provider, so long must we assist him to assist all. That is the remedy for unemployment and depression, and the direct road the Government is following. “I stand behind the Government action because of these things. I am in favour of allowing exchange to run free as soon as the price of our products warrants it and if w’e go on as we have started that will not be long