ROTARY CLUB

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20106, 27 March 1928, Page 6

ROTARY CLUB

LUNCHEON ADDRESS THE ECONOMIC UNREST. The Wanganui Rotary Club held its weekly luncheon yesterday, when the speaker, Mr P. Higginbottom, gave an adddrcss which took the form of a commentary on the remits of the Draper’s Conference, held recently at Auckland. In regard to causes of economic distress now prevalent in the Dominion, he said that firstly the depression resulted from a lack of recognition of the fact that the mainstay of trade was the primary producer and secondly from a failure to recognise that only two sources of wealth were supporting the Dominion, borrowed money and primary products. Should the primary industry collapse what would happen to the secondary industries? In the big cities the seondary industries were regarded as the most important. He stressed the point that to let farms go out of existence would be to court, disaster. A greater production would he the means of safeguarding the Dominion against a re-oc-currence of serious unemployment. The only capital we could look to as a means of development and providing for our increasing population was the capital that came in either interest, i.e., invisible imports, or in return for goods exported. For the years .1920-27 our exports totalled 371 millions; for the same period our imports in goods totalled 378 millions. The absolute need for stimulation of quantity in our exports was shown in those figures, and there was also a need for a restriction in luxuries. Mr Higginbottom then quoted the following figures, which show the proportion of exports for the period of 1925 and 1926; Pastoral

94.2; agricultural, 9; mining 1.4; forest 1.8; balance 1.7. More than half of the balance of 1.7 was flax. Where were lhe secondary industries in comparison! The speaker continued that the creation of secondary industries, sheltered fly high Customs duties was resulting in a higher cost of living and by the duplication of plants all over’ the Dominion, with high over-head charges, proportionate to small turnovers, millions of pounds were being tied up in non-payable ventures that would be far better on the land.

The lack of recognition of the fact that our means of manufacturing plant was sufficient for a population three times that of the present was another reason for the financial distress of the present. One need only take into consideration such industries as bootmaking, furniture manufacturing, and woollen industry to realise that, for our population, the amount of capital invested, the duplication of plant, overhead expenses, etc., rendered it impossible for those goods to be produced in an economic manner. There were many lines produced in New Zealand under shelter of Customs duties that, even now could not compete with goods that had to bear heavy cost of transportation and duty. The result of this was that the cost of living to tire wage earner was increased; he had to receive wages that would enable him to live, so the employer and distributor had to hand the increase on to the community. The speaker said that it was time that a halt was called in the establishment of secondary industries that necessitated high protective duties, and that some means should be found to settle another 500,000 people on the land in the next five years. This wou’d sustain at least another 500,000 i n employment and a further outlet for seeondary industries.

On the motion of Mr Thos. Dix, Mr Higginbottoui was accorded a vote of thanks for his address.