NOW==AND AFTER:

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 235, 22 June 1918, Page 8

NOW==AND AFTER:

, $ PRICES OF OUR PRODUCTS REDUCTION TO BE EXPECTED OUR CUSTOMERS IMPOVERISHED. Some reflections and. forecasts tr the result of war waste were offered to tho shareholders of the Bank of New Zealand yesterday by the chairman of directors (Mr. ft. Beaiichamp). "After-war conditions are naturally in tho minds of most ° people, and <hat those conditions are likely to bn we can only judge by the experience of tho past, and what history teaches us," he said. Writing of the'great peace after the Napoleonic war, Spencer Walpnle says in his "History of England ,, :—"lt is clear, therefore, that the first consequence of peace was to reduce our import trade by nearly 20. per cent., and our export trade by 16' per cent.' Prices fell below, Ihc cost of production, and English, gooiis were selling for much less in Holland and in the north of Lurono than in London, or Manchester."

"Shortly put. this meant thai: the impoverishment of the customers destroyed their purchasing power. The utilities —that is, the mines, the forests; etc, were thero, ability was there, and the labour was there in abundance; but the capital and purchasing power was absent. That is not a picture of 'business as usual.' Bad Times. ■ "A critical position is bound', to exist after the war, and many proposals are being put forward for meeting the situation. Two conditions are essential, viz.: strict economy, and greater industry and production. Everyone can assist in obtaining the first by exercising strict economy in living, and by the avoidance of luxury. "We must have greater production in New Zealand; the output of our primary products must be expanded, and,the efforts of all should be concentrated on tho. attainment of that end. We must not delude ourselves into a false security by catch-phrases, the inventions of visionaries. A young nation has no use for drenms. After the vrar the prices of our produce must fall, because our customers will be impoverished, and will not have the purchasing power. There will continue to bo a idemand for our meat, 'butter, cheese, and other products, 'but not at the prices of to-day.

Wool Demand Will Hold. ' "Examining brielly the prospects before our staple products, wool Beems likely to be in rather better demand than some of the other products. Europe supports 182,000,000 sheep, and hei; flocks have been enormously depleted during the war-repoits' state to the extent of. 58,000,000 head. A laige decrease in 'he production of raw materials can therefore be expected from that quarter. Stocks of woolleii goods the world over will be at a low ebb. Reserves which were on hand in 19U have been consumed and not replaced. Germany before the war was a large buyer of Australasian wool, but her purclinsing power after the war is bound to ■be very restricted, and there is besides, the sentimental factor of the British declining to trade with Germany, or limiting to the lowest possible extent their dealings with that country. The loss in Ibis direction may be recovered by au increased trade with Japan and the. United States. Against these favourable fnctors must be set the measure of the development of substitutes, which has been .brought to a fine degree of perfection in Germany, and' also the extent to which shoddy will figure in the new fabrics and materials. The discharged woollen clothing of the Boldiers is being bought up in the West Riding, and when the war ends there will be an enormous amount of these goods turned over to the mills. Tho utilisation of this material will tend to check the price of the raw materials, but to irhat extent cannot-bo now determined. I

Butter and Cheese. "During tlie currency of the war, I think we may expect to sue High prices continue tot butter, both tor domestic consumption and ior.export; but wo may anticipate a substantial drop in values after tne termination 01 hostilities. With lessened importation into Ureat Britain tnere.nas bteu a great lucreatie in price, anil tins has stiniul'atea enormously the uiauutuutuie and sale 01 margarine, tlie quality of whicli, by aaeiaiuc treatment, nas vastly lmpioveu. 'muudanus ot erstwhile consumers of butter, tncough torca of circumstances, have beoome accustomed to margarine, and these aro not likely to revert to butter if the price- of the latter be fixed at too high v. ngure. Aloreover, witu the return of 'hundreds of thousands of men to civil life, and the discharge ol a largo body of women now ' engaged on munition and otner work, we may reasonably look lor an appreciable contraction in the spending power of the people, and this will undoubtedly compel them to economiso by using margarine in lieu of butter, even when the present restriction on the shipping is removed. Still, we shall always linu an outlet for butter in Great iritain, but it is, 1 fancy, possible that prices, for some years, may .be rather lower tlian thoso current in the 1913-14 season. It ia significant that many dairy companies in .New Zealand,, during thfe past few years, have practically discontinued the manufacture of butter, and are now devoting their attention ,to the output of cheese. The last-named product, it is thought, stands a chance than butter, because it has been so extensively used fat . Army supplies. Hundreds of thousands of eoldiers have become, acquainted with its . great value as an article of diet, and this will undoubtedly cause them to continue its me when they revert to civil life. However, the competition of margarine will be a factor in determining the value of cheese, as well aa butter, but to a considerably less degree,

Meat. "The demand for meat, and especially beef, , should continue satisfactory. There is unquestionably a shortage in tie flocks and herds; and until the equilibrium in re-established, prices are likely to be relatively high and subject only to the purchasing power of consumers: The increasing production necessary to meet these new conditions' and to maintain a level of prosperity can only be attained by scientific and intensive farm-, ing, which, ill itself implies small holdings and closer settlement. Placing soldiers more or less unused to farming upon land purchased at present high prices may do some good, but the times and conditions will call for more strenuous efforts than that. New land-especi-ally native land—must bo broken in, a7id that now in occupation must be made to produce a great deal more."