PARLIAMENT

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 299, 13 September 1919, Page 8

PARLIAMENT

PAY OF JURORS

THE COST OF LIVING PROBLEM

REVIEWED BY MR. MASSEY The Legislative Council sat for five minutes yesterday afternoon, when the Charles Joseph Jury Estate Empowering Bill (Hou. Mr. W. J. Geddis) was read a third time. The Council adjourned till Thursday next. THEHOUSE The House of Representatives met at 2.30 p.m. PAYMENT OF JURORS. , The Payment of Jurors Bill was introduced by Governor-General's message. Sir T. M. WILFORD (Hutt) said the Bill was the measure agreed to by»i Cabinet when he was Minister of Justice. He had provided in the Bill for the payment of jurors and for the refund of transpor;ation charges in addition, to fees. The amount of the payment was to be fixed by regulation in order to enable adjustments to be made when necessary. The Bill was read >u first and second time without debate, end committed.

The Hon. D. Buddo (Kaiapoi) protested against the Bill being hurried through the House beiore members had an opportunity to consider it. The Hon. J. G. Cnates (Minister of Justice! said tho Bill gave effect to •a demand often made for the improvement of the pay of jv.rors. The fixing of rates could safely be left to the Government of the day. Mr. J. Payne (Grey Lynn) urged the House bo see that wage-earners serving on juries should receive their normal wages. Mr. M'Combs that he thought tho House was inclined to ask for a proviso to the operative clause (the Gov-ernor-General-in-Council): 'Provided that the pay be not less than ——

Mr. Wilford: A pound. Mr. M'Combs: A pound a day.' : Members in chorus: What? Mr. M'Combs: I waited for a suggestion. and the member for Hntt said "a pound.',' Ho afterwaids put his amendment. with the figure 15s. a day. Tho amendment w£s objected to by Mr. Wilford and the Minister in charge of the Bill, and it was defeated on the voices. , The Bill was reported without amendment. read,a third tine, and passed.

KAURI GUM INDUSTRY. The Kauri Gum Industry Amendment Bill was introduced by Govemor-Gen-eral's Message. The MINISTER OP LANDS (Hon. 1). H. Guthrie) said the biil provided authority for the leasing oj; lands under the Kauri Gum Act for periods' not exccedinir twenty-one years, with right of renewal for second terms ot' enty-iu e Years. There was also power to issue licenses to kauri gum buyers and brokers. LAND AND INCOME TAXES. The Land Tax and Income Tax Bill was introduced by Governor-General s M 'S g MINISTEIt 01' FINANCE (Sir James Allen), in answer to a question put by Sir. Joseph Ward, stated there had been no alteration, in the rates, which were the same as during last year.

BOARD OF TRADE BILL THE COST OF LIVING. The PRIME MINISTER (Right Hon. W P. Massey) moved the second readin" of the Board of Trade Bill, lie said the Bill wns a very important one to which he asked tho House to give lull consideration. Then; was no question that the cost of living had increased and there was a very- strong icolins; throughout tho country that at the same time there had keen profiteering. Prices had risen in every pi rt of the world. ia recent years, and several faeiois had produced this result. Millions of men had'been withdrawn f*om production am turned into consumers. Industry had befen checkod and hampered all over tho world. Then there was tho nidation ot currency owing to thu war, lie did not believe that this .inflation had gone to extremes in New Zealand, But the process had continued all over the world, and it had been atcompanicd, inevitably, by rising prices. No great eiiect would havo been produced n f tlw process had been confined to New 'Zealand. Many people had attempted to mako political capital out of the rising prices. The increase had been less in New Zealand than in any other country in thu world. That was a.fact which could fco proved by statistics. The rise in England had been double that in the Dominion. Tho rise in Paris had been three times as great us in New Zealand. Canada, and the United States had both experienced greater increases than had been recorded in New Zealand. These were facts that could not lie disputed. Mr. Massey quoted figures to show the enormous increases in prices in Paris. It had been said that so far _ns farm produce was concerned tho New Zealand Government should have compelled its sale at pre-war prices. But the cost of production had risen greatly. The average working settler, at the end of the year, had no larger profits, than before the Tllr. H. Holland (Grey): That was not the man who got the profits. Sir. Massev: "Ho is the average man. The other man is tiie exception." The Government could not control the prices of imported goods. Those prices were fixed in other parts of the world. All it could do was to prevent profiteering, and that was the purpose of tho Bill.

The Govepimunt's Efforts. The Government had not been idle in regard to prices. Proplo did not realise how much hod been done. The Government had arranged • for the supply of meat from the cold stores at ttie Imperial purchase prices, and 169 retailers had taken advantage of this arrangement. No more could have been done under thut heading. A vnry satisfactory arrangement had been maintained in regard to sugar, and lm was convinced thai; the Colonial Sugar Company had treated the Dominion well. A small increase in price for this year had been duo to a shortage of supplies from Fiji, compelling the company to get sugar from Java. Butter had been sola to the consumers at less tlhan the export price. This arrangement would lie continued during the current year, though ho did not say that 1 lie producers would suffer. Tho Govenonent, as a matter of fact, wjis making an arrangement with the producers tihat would eivo them tho export price. Mr. Mnssev refeiTed to the attempts of the Government to, check rising prices in other directions, and to tho increases in wages granted to tho lower-paid public servants and others. The Mortgages Extension lAct had. given general satisfaction. Mr. Myers: Not in its present form. Mr. Massey said that a Bill was coming down shortly by which defects could be put right. Ho pointed also to tile rent restriction legislation. A good deal had been said about the Cost of laving Committeo and tho reco Jimendationrj One ■would think from remarks made that tho Government lia4 done nothing., Mr. Wilkinson: Very little.

Itr. Massey: "Very little! I don't know what 'very little' means in TaramVki, but I know wJiat it means in this House." Ho proceeded to refer in detail to the recommendations of tho committee, the .first of whi:h was that n Food Controller should bo appointed. Tho committeo had u wrong idea of the dutieis of tho Food Controller in Britain. Ilis duty was to perfect the system of rationing. One of his fust acts was to raise the price of butter in order to stop the queues. Mr. Holland: Wasn't that an extraordinary method? Mr. Mitssoy: "I thought it was. I should not like to try'it in Wellington." (Laughter.). At any rftte, ho continued, tho Food Controller contemplated by flie Cost of Living Committee was to have Quito other duties There was no magic

in the term "Food Controller." The second recommendation was that the operation of tho Commercial Trusts Act sliould be extended to cover all food produels. That had been done. The third recommendation, dealing with tho weights of packages, etc., was already at that time provided tor in the law. The committee had recommended that the fishing industry be fostered, to supply cheap food to the people. Ho gave instructions to the lioanl of Trade to inquire as to the possibilities, and especially regarding cold storage. The Hoard of Trade reported that in war time 110 machinery could be obtained. A movement was now afoot, and he hoped something would come of il. The com.mitleo advised tho purchase of ships. The time might come for this country to buy ships, but this was not a good Hime. did not say that the country would not Have to buy ships for coal carrying. Oilier recommendations had been adopted'. In fact, almost all of them. Comparisons were often made between this country and Australian States, especially ivi lh Queensland. The truth was that the cost of living increased in war time 51.8 per cent, in Queensland, against 33.2 in New Zealand. He referred to the system of controlling the prices of certain commodities, which, ho claimed, had worked quite satisfactorily under tho control of tho Board -of Trade. Ho had noticed himself that English boots, were being sold at lower prices in Weir linston than in tho Strand, London. The Bill, said Mr. Massey, recon* stated the present Board of Trade, with four members instead of three. Tho board was to have full powers of inquiry and would be in a position to compel the divulging of information regarding business matters. He was sure that witn the main objects of the Bill all members of the House would agree, tliotign they might not approve all its details. He commanded the measure to the . consideration of the House.

The Wastable Sovereiun. SIR JOHN FINDLAY (Ilawke's Bay) stiid' he hiul had opportunities of perusing the Bill most carefully, and lie was of opinion that no Bill more likely to be effective in achieving its purpose had over been introduced into this Parliament or any other Parliament. He said, hem-ever, that the radical cause of the soaring cost of living was the depreciation of the money standard. He proceeded to the plan for stabilising tho American dollar, enunciated by Professor Irving Fisher, economics teacher of Yalo University. This eminent economist had ' propounded this scheme, which had run the gauntlet n* examination and criticism by authorities. Sir Jolm Findla.y said that no proposed to ask the House to listen to a very short account of the. scheme. The need for stabilising money was very important. In 189G tho pound sterling would purchase as much as three pounds to-day. An unstable sovereign was in itself an evil, leading as it did to speculation and profiteering. But it was an evil because it caused grave discontent among people who could not understand the cau§e of their troubles. Thia blindfold sense of wrong from causes not understood was the worst causa of mob violenco aud revolution, Professor Fisher said that the war had made havoc of till our finnncial systems. In the belligerent countries there was inflation of paper currency, and in neutrai countries of gold currency. More money/ meant higher-priced commodities.

' A Surplus of Money. Probably the worker of rJew Zealand to-day was suffering from a surplus of money in circulation. The .war had not been the cause of this depreciation of the value of money. There had- been a strong pre-war rise in the cost of living; the war had been merely an incident. The unit of money at present in Britain not iv unit of value; it was a unit of weight. Our money measure was the last' unstable unit remaining in Christendom. All other measures had been stabilised and standardised. In America many firms wore varying wages by ret'eronce to the index number. "What wo had now was a sovereign of fixed weight, and unstable purchasing power. What wo ought to have was a money unit of stable purchasing power. . The instability of money values afforded legalised opportunity for breaking a bargain. The system proposed by Professor -Fisher was one that could bo introduced without tho average citizen'being aware of it. .He was sure Hint this system would one day bo adopted in America, and if it were adopted there no country in the world could afford to stay out of it. The aim of it was to stabilise the general price level, witiiout interfering at all with relative variations in the prices of particular commodities. Speculation and profiteering, labdur agitations, extravagant government, and many other causes had been assigned to the rise in the cost of living; but the fact was that the increase was due primarily to'the fluctuation in the monetary standard: Any other explanation involved itself in n "vicious circle." Tho worker blamed the retailer, tho retailer blamed tho merchant, the merchant blamed the manufacturer, and the manufacturer blamed the worker for rising prices. The truth was that all parties needed a stabilised monetary standard.

The New Scheme. The proposal now made was that no gold coin 6hould bo issued at all, added Sir John Findlay. The gold coin was not necessary. Instead of gold coins, there would be issued gold certificates or notes, exchangeable for gold, and the amount of gold to be. given in exchange for.tho note would vary with the move-' ment of the. index matter. The result would be that the "goods pound," that was the quantity of goods'obtainable for ■a pound, would remain stable, while tho weight of gold represented'!)}' the pound would vary. Nobody would lose; everybody would gain. Sir John Findlay invited members to study the scheme for price stabilisation, and suggested that tho Government should follow the example of the United States authorities and let a commission examine the currency question. Mr. A. S. MALCOLM (Clutha) said that students of . prices must not lose Bight of the fact that the world was suffering from an enormous shortage of goods. Production had been checked during the war, and the world had been living on capital. That process must stop and then llio shortage of goods would becomo painfully apparent. Mr. Malcolm urged the importance of increased product ion and ec«'inmy. _ Tho Hon. D. BUDDO (Kaiapoi) spoke generally on the problem of price contool anil the cosf of living. He had t, ■ word or two to 6ay About QllcjjGu profiteering by tanners. He supported the Bill. The Hon. J. A; HANAN. (Invercargill) said that tlio cost of living problem should bo traced, to its fountain headtho land. The land should be widely distributed, and tho policy of the country* must be to encourage small holdings. Factors tending to the increase of land values wero factors tending to raise tho cost of living. , , _ . Mr H G. ELL (Cliristchurch South) eaid 'that there had undoubtedly bwn profiteering, and it had been especially evident on woollen goods produced in New Zealand. He pointed out that Uie local bodies had wido powers which they often neglected to use-, and that the people had .full .democratic control of these The' debate was adjourned at 10.55 p.m. on the motion of the Hon. tt. D. s. Mac Donald. . . Tho Houso adjourned until 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday.