Thoughts For The Times

Hokitika Guardian, 26 May 1920, Page 2

Thoughts For The Times

Glutting The Market. The bulk of the producers in New Zealand are becoming seriously alarmed at the outlook, and they arc very much justified in their alarm. The main products, that is the products on which the prosperity of New Zealand is based, are wool, frozen meat, butter and cheese, and it Is in respect to the outI look for these that alarm is felt. ButI ter and cheese are not afliected to any I extent whatever, but wool and meat 1 are in a very risky state, and the outj look for them is distinctly bad. The present position is the natural result ! of the operations of the Imperial Go- | cernment, but no blame attaches to the ' authorities for that. While the war was in progress it was imperative that the British Government should have ample supplies of wool, meat, butter, and cheese. Wool was needed for army purposes, and Britain had to help her Allies with the raw material, meat and especially beef, was another necessity, and so were cheese and butter, also .to a smaller extent. Tlie Imperial authorities agreed to extend the commandeer for a year beyond the close of the war, and so it comes about that the Imperial Government will cease buying wool and meat (in .Tune 30, and butter and cheese on July 31.