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NOTES OF THE DAY

? 1 Pakticulaks of British external 1 trade which were published yester- ' day show that slower progress than < had been hoped for is being made < towards overtaking the adverse bal- ! ance. For- the first four months of ' this year the value of imports ex- < ceeded that of exports by 296 J millions sterling. Account has i still to be taken of invisible ex- ' ports, and, according to the licono- ' mist, the expert estimate of in- * visible exports for. 1920 is 640 ■ millions sterling, which gives a ' monthly average of 53.3 millions. ' Since the balance of imports over ' ordinary exports and re-exports has f averaged 74 millions per month during the last four months- a considerable adverse balance on total ( trade (over 80 millions for the four months) still remains to bo overtaken. The heavily-increased importation in these months of raw material, particularly of raw cotton, suggests in itself that the position may be redressed before long. It is to be noted, however, that even more than in the case of most commodities tho increased price paid for raw cotton is out of all, proportion to the increased quantity imported. This is indicated in the fact that British imports of raw cotton were fifty per cent, greater in quantity in February this year than in the corresponding month of 1913, while the price paid was roughly seven times as much. * * * # Fairly challenged to defend* his refusal to sign the civic address to the . Prince of Wales, Mr. P. Feaser, M.P., has replied in "terms which may be summed up as a poor* shuffle. He was invited to submit his action in this matter to the judgment of his < constituents. The most material point standing out in his reply is that he has preferred to dodge for _ cover behind his- assumed obligations to his Labour organisation. His evasion of the simple issue raised speakß for itself. "The Labour' Party," 'he says, "is the judge of any public act of mine," and this he follows up with a statement that he is prepared to resign if the "organised workingclass men and women of Wellington Central as distinct from the members of the exploiting class" demand his resignation. This is a particularly frank repudiation of obligation to his constituents, and nothing could better illustrate the incurable kink in the outlook of the member for _ Wellington Central than the stupid suggestion that all who stand outside the narrow category to which he refers are "members of the exploiting class," The incident is instructive, and it ia a gresi pity that for the time being Mr. $ saber's wary discretion denies his constituents the oppor- ■ tunity of showing atthe ballot-box wh&t they think of his latest act of political self-revelation. The decision of the Imperial authorities to sell the commandeer mutton at sixpence represents a big ioss, but will probably prove , the shortest and least expensive way out of <i difficult position. On March 16 *he price was fixed at nineposca a pound, so that tlu new , figure represents a drop of fifty per cent. : 2}vi Government has paid an average «t about fivnpence a pound for i«a mutton, and on top • of this- has the fyeight and cold storage and establishment charges. . A recent eatim?.te put the loss with i the price at sixpence' at from seven \ [ to ten millions sterling. There j . appears to be some dispute astoi • the exact quantity of meat remain- i . ing in store, but it is undoubtedlyj i large, and we shall be lucky if the ■ qlut is ended twelve month:; tiencc. i Sixpence a pound to the butchers '. means about a' shilling a pound rei tail for the best cuts, which Is about half what English home-grown meat i was fetching a few weeks back. At this figure there should be room for a decided increase in consumption. . It is welcome news also that ship- , ments of New Zealand meat have \ meanwhile been disposed of in the i United States, as it will help \ materially to ease the situation. ' * * # * That their new Labour Premier \ should feel it incumbent on him to ! advise the workers to work must [ come as a rude shock to the Now ' South Wales advocates of the six- ! hour day and the five-day week. Mark Twain many years ago dej fined the difference between the Australian and the American. It was not a very kind definition, and per- ' haps it is time it was replaced by another. The difference between ; the Australian' worker and the 5 American certainly seems to be that while tho American will "work like hell" at a very big price the up-to--5 date Australian doesn't want work 1 at any price. 5 e * o « ' The relations between the British 1 Government and the petrol conir panics, to which reference is made '- in this morning's dispatches, is ! likely to become a matter of acute 3 interest before long. In 1922 the ■ Anglo-Persian Oil Company, in • which the Imperial Government 1 holds a controlling interest, will be • free to market its own output, and 51 the Imperial authorities will be I placed in a position to givo a mea- " sure of protection to tho consumer. ft It is predicted that Ministors will • be offered incredible sums of money " fojr the Government holding in this h company. In the meantime .the i two chief concerns in control of - petrol are tho Standard Oil -\nd tho s Royal Dutch Shell. What the pro--3 fit on petrol has been at war prices o is indicated by the fact that tho 8 Royal Dutch Shell group paid in 8 1918 a dividend of 35 per cent, free II of income tax, and in addition disB trihuted a bonus of three shares for t every five held. An Imperial Gov i" ernment committee which has been t investigating tho price of potrol has e found gross and has '- advised that'the retail price in BritS' ain should be fixed at 2s. 10jd. a gal-

lon, as against the then ruling rate of 3s. Bkl. So powerful is tho ' petrol combine that the committee \ believes that it will not be possible . for the British Government unaided to curb it. Tot do so the co-opera- i tion of the Governments of the ' world will be needed. In any case, ' a petrol shortage is likely before long,; and the best way out, in the . opinion of these investigators, is ■ by a concentration by Bntain_ and i the Dominions on the production of power alcohol. It is worth noting : that a mixture of power alcohol and . benzole—which is obtained from coal . —can be used in the ordinary petrol • motor without adaptation. * * * •* i Little reaches us in New Zealand ' of the work of rehabilitating the de- ' vastated regions of France. "Vet , the French arc making wonderful progress with this work. A month : or so ago _ sixty _ thousand people Vere back in Rheims, and the champagne industry reviving. In the sea of mud, with honeless ruins on every hand, with battlefields reminding them that they have lost more than a third of their men between twenty and thirty, the French arc working with a fresh energy and determination that is heroic. '"Our devastated regions," said ox-Presi-dent Powcare recently, "are in a state of distress no human words can describe." Of the returned refugees it least 100,000 were living in huts, a.nd the others in rujned houses made "habitable." In towns the noise of hammers goes on long after dark, and in the country the farmers are willing to live ' anywhere so long as tney_ can reap a harvest. At the beginning of the present year more than two-fifths of the ruined lands of tho Aisne, Nord, Sommo, and Pas-de-Calais had already been reclaimed for cultivation.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19200511.2.20

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 193, 11 May 1920, Page 6

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,292

NOTES OF THE DAY Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 193, 11 May 1920, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 193, 11 May 1920, Page 6

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