VITAL PROBLEMS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20109, 30 March 1928, Page 8

VITAL PROBLEMS

TRADE AND FINANCE

Mr Weston Predicts Brighter Farming Conditions jJUEAPER MONEY SOON Toughimg on ail the important problems of trade and industry ■which confront the Dominion. Che Hon. T. Shatter Weston, M.L.C., last evening delivered a striking address Uj members attending the annual meeting of the Wanganui Employers’ Association. Mr Weston is president of the New Zealand Employers’ Federation. The speaker at the outset referred Hi the industrial Conference at Wellington which he hail just left ano stated that if it did nothing more than clear the air and concentrate delegates attention on the merits and demerits of th£ Arbitration Act a great deal of good would have been done. Mr Weston said that no doubt New Zealan.l was going through a critical period owing to the return to the gold exchange standard in order to place trade between the various nations on fa. sound basis, and also as a result of post war conditions in the production and sale of raw materials and manufactures. Keen competition had resulted and in consequence people were in for an era of reduced prices. Unless costs of production were reduced profits would also have to fall. Changing Conditions Trade had been made more difficult by the extraordinary way in which inventions had come forward, causing extensive alterations. The coal industry had been affected by the extensive use of oil and hydro-electric ity and unemployment had resulted. Similarly motor transport had affected tramways and railways aad had brought people into the large towns to shop. “Business in the next 12 months is likely to prove troublesome as it has proved in the corresponding period just passed,” said Mr Weston. I have found that there is no doubt that in the majority of concerns in New Zealand, unless there have been special circumstances, there has been a reduction in turnover of from 1-5 per cent to five per cent. “This depression has focussed atten tion on the Arbitration Court, for -n all such cases something or someone is seized upon as the scapegoat. 1 think the Arbitration Court has the scapegoat in this instance; but if you had heard those two professors who had supported the abolition ot the Arbitration Court I thinxi. you wou.d have come away wi’.l the impression that the Court had little »o go with the present depression.”

Efficiency W anted. The speaker said that in the read justment the question was, who «va: going to be the victim? He thought that every interest affected might well consider to what extent it could increase the efficiency oi that industry. The worker should do everything he could by loyal and efficient service and similarly the manager ot industry, instead of taking the obvious course of reducing wages, which should be the last resource, should consider unproved methods of business. The speaker knew of two firms in Wellington which reorganised and saved £3UVU a year each—equal to 5 per cent, on a capital of £60.000. Mr Weston eulogised the actions of l the dairy farmers in solving their problems to a large extent by increasing production. There would have been an even greater increase in production had it not been for the recent drought. There was no reason why in the next seven years dairy production should not increase by 5u per cent. Even supposing the era of failing prices continued during the seven years and the average price for dairy produce fell 25 per cent-, there would still be an increase of 25 per rent- for the farmer. He thought that in the period mentioned people would find that opportunities in the country would be as good as, if not better than, in the town. The slump had pulled the price of land down and improved methods of agriculture had made the way easier. Capital More Plentiful. Tnere was also the question of the standard rate of interest. When ’he war commenced the first mortgage rates were from 44 to 5 per cent.; when the war concluded 7 per cent, was consi lered a moderate rate. There was no doubt that capital was growing throughout the world. To some extent the ravages of the war had been made good and although the.- demands of capital had been growing, they would notice that the British Government, instead of having to pay six per cent., was now able to borrow on long terms at four per cent. There was every indication that money' would become cheaper. The seamens’ and coal strikes had made a difference in New Zealand’s exports of from £4.000,000 to £5,000,000 and the whole of this would have represented net profit for the farmer. The speaker was satisfied that the good season experienced recently was going to effect the bank rate in New Zealand and he thought that in a couple of months they would see it down to 61 percent- They would see. therefore, that if a man invested in farm property at a reasonable price and worked it well ho would find that as the standard rate of interest fell his land would go up in t*luo. A Cause of Falling Values. Mr Weston referred to an Australian review of the outlook of the city and suburban property market. The reviewers had given the opinion that as the pound came bark to its pre-war value the value of such property would fall. Mr Weston was of the opinion that there woild be a tendency this way in New Zealand. The waste of capital was also dealt with. In the T’iiitrl States £400,000,000 was wasted < *t-ry year in enterprises that should not have been started, and this sort of waste was also going on in the Dominion. “I am afraid then- will be a certain amount of unemployment in this country’ ’this winter. 7 * said Mr Weston. “It is due largely to the coal and the

seamen’s strikes. So many farmers have received credit notes instead of cash and they haven’t much money to spend. One mistake takes a long time to catch up. Then there is the local matter of the depression in the timber trade.” In his opinion, immigration had not affected unemployment greatly. From 1908 to 1913, for every 1,000 inhabi- ] tants in New Zealand 8.9 immigrants l were received into the country. DurI ing 1925 the rate on the same lines ■ was only 8.1. Further, 95 per cent, of the immigrants had made good and had repaid punctually their advance from the Government. It might be said that unemployment was a method by which Nature put things right. Nature was hard and it was also a law that if a man did not work he did no., live. However, if a man was out of a job through hard luck he was deserving of every sympathy. It was dangerous io pay trade ut.ion wages to unemployed, because by so doing the natural law that got rid of unemployment was being interfered with. At the close of his address a vote of (hanks was accorded the speaker.