POST-WAR PROBLEMS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 62, 7 December 1918, Page 2

POST-WAR PROBLEMS

DOMINION'S COMMERCE THE FROZEN MEAT STOCKS ;■.- RIDDLE * ~ OUR BIG DEBT During his remarks at'the half-yearly meeting of the Bank of New Zealand held at the banking-house; LamßTon Quay, yesterday, the chairman of the board of directors (Mr Harold Beauchamp) made eohw interesting;, observations on postwar problems, viewed from the banker's standpoint. Air. Beaucharap said :- "Following tho close'of the war now comes the difficult task of arranging the '■terms"of pence. In this connection it is-gratifying to note that-the representatives of tho Dominions will have seats' at. tho Peaco .Conference. One of tho outstanding questions for' Australasia is, of course, the destiny of rh'e'tierinan'colonies in the Pacific. These cannot, and must'not, be returned to Germany, to become in the future bases for submarines and aircraft, arid therefore a menace to" the" jicaceful development of the British dominions in these seas. There are, of course, other '-matters of 'great moment in 'which, we are interested, that are bound to be discussed" at the Pence Conference; but tho determination of the disposal, of the German colonies in the Pacific is, to us, a very important question. Australian-- and New.. Zealand statesmen are, happily, unanimous on this point. . ' : ' .. .-■-.• "The active work' of repatriation, restoration, and reconstruction" must now be undertaken, and the greatest intelligence, and the greatest organising.ability will have to be utilised for tliis purpose, for at every step complicated and serious problems are bound to present themselves-for solution. It seems to me that the transition period will he'no less trying and anxious than the war.period has been i and the best efforts of every individual in the community, will be needed to maintain the economic- .machinery in smooth "running order.■ Our Meat Stocks, ■-"I do not anticipate any immediate variation in- the'.prosperity thoLthis'Doniinioii -has-'enjoyed'-during' The four years of war. There will probably be tor .some time a pressing, demand for our foodstuffs and raw materials. It is practically assured, that the. Imperial authorities will take the output of wool for a period of twelve months, from June following the declaration of peace; and arrangements have now been concluded with them to take our .output of cheese and-butter.for this and the following senson, at satisfactory prices: . This.places , the wool and dairying industries upon an assured footing for a. considerable period. As to meat, however, which bulks so -largely in our exports, the present term of -the commandeer is for only", three months aftor termination of tho war. If this be not altered, it 'is conceivable that in Mnrch or April next the refrigerated stores will bo full to "ho doors, and transportation and 'realisation of the meatdn store would probably occupy not-less than eighteen months.' ; . : "It .is, I consider, highly beneficial to "New. Zealand that- these' forward contracts" have been jnade.' with the Imperial Government in regard to wool and dairy produce and in my opinion',it.would be .to the advantage of the Dominion if (he principle were also extended to'meat. The war prosperity .of the' "Dominion has been largely diie to tho operations in produce by the Imperial Government, and until,'at finy rate, normal business conditions prevail and the shipping position improves considerably, the advantages of a continuance, of these operations are to my mind;obvious. ' "Thore is now' in cold store of frozen meat alone a quantity equal --to about 'i million GOlb. freight'carcasses-there are also considerable quantities of cheese, mid bujter and a large amount of wool. In addition there are heavy- stocks of tallow, pelts, hemp, and other products which have not bceii commandeered by the Imperial Government. ■ The .present season, for reasons I Jiavo already given, is abackward one, so that not much of the/current year's yield has yet got into fitore. It must be borne in mind that all the Imperially-requisitioned produce will have to be lifted in priority to purchases on privato account; and as: the British commandeer - of shipping wilt probably not be relaxed for some considerable time it is clear that .private purchasers .would in that case have to tako heavy' risks. It is easy to ; understand that if the bulk of next season's moat has to bo held in tho refrigerated stores pending, a market being found for it a difficult, and in some cases unsatisfactory, situation would arise'. 1 Blue Book Freight Rates. ■ "The scarcity of tonnage is likelv to continue—indeed,' is" certain to continue— for several months, notwithstanding-the fact that a' fair amount of.shipping will be released through ■ there being i o longer any • necessity to transport munitions' and men. It may riot be" out of place to remind farmers and others-who have accused the shipowners of exploiting the public, and so profiteering, thatall shins on the British Register were requisitioned during the early "part of 1017-at Blue Book rates, these rates being approximately one-third ' of "those then .obtainable in" the ODMi-,.market. The difference between-the . Blue Book rates ami those now current .benefit"-, not- the shipowners but the Imnerial Government. So lons as the British nuthm-ities continue their control ..of shipping, so 'lung will it be difficult to know just what number .of vessels, will be. available for our produce trade. . ■ "It is, moreover, of the- utmost importance to us that the income from the enle.of produce should be as lnnre during the next ;two years as it i* this yehr, to enable us to meet our obligation's in the meantime 'whilst we- are ninkine .provision . fnr : the ', : readjustment of our affairs to ■ meet • the .'ch'antff'd .conditions. Had .we been able to foretell a -year atto just exactly when the war would end we could have made some, preparation' to meet the sitiintion; but the end has come suddenly, and the post-war .problems have yetto be-giap-pled with -.-■•■..■ A Huge Public Debt."* •' "One great burden that the war-has forced upon us is a huge-public, debt. "I he Minister of. Finance ..has repeatedly stated, 6ince his return from. England, that tho public debt is about',£2oo 000,-' 000. This at 4} per cent, means- an intereet bill of ,£9,000,000 per annum, or. say, .£750,000 a -month; and there will be, in addition, the heavy pension bill to meet. Tlv;so two items will absorb about eleven millions to twelve millions a year. This. is. a very heavy load for the conntry to carry, and- it necessarily--means that taxation must for some time' be heavy. There is, however, -<.ne feature about the debt that•;redounds.to the credit of the people. A large proportion of the money required for the prosecution of the . war wa.s obtained within ■ New Zealand. It was (recently stated- officially that the amount of the war loans raised in tho Dominion whs equal to about- JJ-fO per head of tho population, a truly magflificent achievement; ..-...:.-. .. . A Welter of MilUoris. : '•'Well, as I ho people, of .'"New Zealand havo done, the people in the British Isles have done infinitely better. The Chancellor of the Exchequer the other day obtained a credit vote of .£700,000,000, which does not represent • tho end of .such votes. . With this vote, the total is brought up to the huge sum of .£8,742,000,000, made up as under :-19H-15, .£302,000,000; IMS-lli, 000; 191C-17, 42,010,000,000; 1917-18, .62,450,000,000; 191819. .£2,000,000,000. "The debt- due to Great Britain from tho Allies on August 1 was -.and from tho dominion .£208,500,000; end both amounts would bo considerably larger now. It was officially stated in the House of Commons that tho Nationql War Debt on . Soptember 30 lust amounted to J3G,875,000,000; and thero is the recent credit vote to be added,:which would bring the total to .£7,575,000,000. Jt will probably tako another .£500,000,000 to repatriate tho troops .and for restoration,, compensation, etc., which wouid make the National War Debt about ,£8,000,000,000. Of the amount duo to Britain from the Allies and Dominions, ,£1,000,000,000 is rogarded as good, and this would leave tho debt at 000. The interest bill would probably

totnl wC315,000,CQ0, which,, with the amount required for the normal peace expenditure, would menu raising a revenue of c£600,000,000-or tlwee times the nmoumt raised in the pence rear of 1913-14. The people in Britain will be unable to indulge in any extravagances and will be unable to afford tiny fancy prices for foodstuffs or for anything else. And this state of affairs is likely, to contiftue for, some time.. But there/will.- fe anticipate, bo no sharp or sudden declirio'in the prices or our produce, or, oil the other hand, of'the commodities we import. Aβ regards imports, there is inore. liliely, to. be an upward rather than a -downward tendency, for a time at least, in the cost' of commodities that are imported into this country. There is a world-wide shortage of standard goods and raw materials, and these ennnot be produced in sufficient quantities to meet all demands for a very long time, ■ 60 thnt values, when they 'do recede, I will do so gradually. ■ Furthermore, so far as New Zealand is concerned, thero will 1)B a considerable difficulty in importing goods from Britain because a. large proportion,.' if not. the whole, of our steamers will be needed for'the repatriation of troops. . .Merchants,, and importers are seriously urged to study the position cnrefiilly, and they" will realise that there is no reason whatever for anything in' the sliape of a panic. The situation is an unfortunate one. for the general public, for it menus that the cost of living will continue high, though perhaps not quite so high as at present. High rates of freight'as compared with pre-war 'days, increase in ,prime cost, and difficulty. iii. procuring,,! will still operate in - respect--of-iniporled .■ goods and help to. maintain"..value?;', while the prices of the foodstuffs which. we' ourselves produce are unlikely to fall for some time owing '..to the. strong, demand there will be for them, to feed the starving millions of Europe. : The" same set of conditions will operate in Australia, Canada. South' Africa, and India, so that the peoplp of New. Zea-. land will have no monopoly of complaint about the high cost of living.- 7 Aβ a mutter of fact, tho cost of living,in New Zealand is relatively us low ns.' if_ not' lower tlian, in 'the-Commonwealth,'-'and" certainly lower than- hi European-coun-tries. . '..■-, • "No Foolish Sentimentaiism.""In view of all these circumstances, it is to be hoped that the imperative necessity of making the offending nations bear . a substantial. portion, if not. fhe whole, of the war costs entailed upon thoAllies in defeating their nefarious' designs will bo strenuously insisted upon. at the Peaco Conference.* Thero -should" bo no false and..'foolish, sontimentalisni or namby-pnmbyism when settling scares with the* German nation, "liecent disclosures prove beyond, all possible doubt that Germany was the real-instigator of the war, and had made complete plans towards that end some time before the actual declaration of hostilities. It is, therefore, to bo sincerely hoped that tho abject appeals which the Hun is at present making to secure mitigation of tho just punishment that 'is impending .for. his misdeeds will fall upon deaf enrs nnd that the Allies will be inexorablo in their terms. (Hear. hear.). ■ : "What, I ask, would have been the" >fate of the British Empire if the Hun, instead of being defeated, had been Victorious? let me nuote an extract from the letter of a leading Orman—the lato 'Her'r' Unllin—which was telegraphed out •to the Press quite recently. He wroto a few days before his death, discussing the forecasts- of tho armistice terms, ■which lie admitted ' were unexpectedly .moderate, and remarked:— -~. ■•;* If we had been the victors we ; would have demanded the occupation ' of London and Paris, dictated terms "at Buckingham Palace, and annexed tho entire continent between the *,Urals.nnd the Buy of Biscay. Let me also remind you of the iniquitous exactions to which poor Belgium has been subjected in ordbr to provide for tho maintenance of nn army.of occupation, which by ull the laws of right and justice should-' never have been in Belgian territory at t>ll. Unquestionably upon the British dominions (.rivoiie, burdens would hiivo been lnid. In these circumstances, therefore;' there ' need be no hesitation on our imrt in demanding ,what is obviously, only fair and just Jo ourselves and oiir Allies. ••■■ '-■■ Can Germany Pay?.: .'.' V "Much will be made of the ■ fact" that Germany, is financially in a bankrupt state and unable at presont to pay indemnities. That may bo true; but if so, it is Germany's concern. She has brought it-upon herself and can therefore bo .left to find- a way out of her own embarrassments. But Germany is not bankrupt in resources.- She >s rich in natural wealth, and my firm opinion is that thnt' natural wealth should bo charged with the burden of the debt which the civilised freedom-loving rations, of the world have had to incur to their liberties against German aggression. It should be arranged that .specific taxes should be levied upon all Germany's primary products to provide for payment, within a -easonable period, of the Allied Indebtedness, together with the interest thereon. - - ■ "In this way, the pagnitudfl of her iniquity and the inevitable consequences, of crimes such as those of which Germany has been guilty-- would be kept alive in the German nind for probably the next century, and .vould furnish one. of the best guarantees 'arainst any reversion to. militarism by. the .German nation.i By the time her obligation had beoff discharged,' tho triumph : of democracy would be complete. ~ _ *•, ''My opinion is that the British Dominions, at any rate, should unequivoc; ally demand to be indemnified against the liability which German greed and rapacity have forced upon them. If the wealthiest members of the Allied family desiro to display generosity to the Ge¥-' man nation, they can <l course make any sacrifice they wish on their own' acccoiint;. but.as far as the dominions areconcerned full;indemnification should be. afforded. - '~'.' '.. The Trysting Plat*), of the Ages."/ ' '"The financial aspect' is, moreover, not the only one that' calls tor considerationHere, at this trysting.place of the ages, etand outraged justice.'.ahd afflicted humanity, appealing to the champions of right—justice demanding vindication' of' her honour, and humanity crying out for redress of her grievances. The- 1 victors cannot turn a de,af ear'to their appeal.' "Those responsible for the perpetration of the countless inhumanities, barbarisms, and iniquities that have made this war a horror of horrors, should be arraigned at the bar of an international judicial tribunal,' and receive from tliat august court, the just punishment of their offences. Tho exalted'station of-a culprit should, have -ro influence, upon the decrees of such w-urt. The braggart and blaspheming "All Highest/' .if shown to be responsible, should receive the same treatment as the lowest common soldier. ■ "Thus we shall perfect the work which our gallant dead have had to leave unfinished, and fill up the measure of their sacrifices, so that the sple'ndour of their completed achievement shall.go down with undimmed lustre to a grateful posterity, and ehine for ever with an imperishable glory." (Applause.)