Hokitika Guardian & evening Star TUESDAY, JULY 13th, 1920. THE OUTLOOK.

Hokitika Guardian, 13 July 1920, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & evening Star TUESDAY, JULY 13th, 1920. THE OUTLOOK.

At'('Qn»iNp ito the report submitted py the Pigs/do>p£ to fh,o Cougcjl of AgriciilfcHrP (otj.fuijaftp wgek, flip year ha# b*e» on* pf tb.aff HJSWJ I W terest front tty; producers’ sfatfdpyilft. Prices for produce b#yp mgWtll'?l- - at an extraordinary high. tyyfd. hut w ith in the last few weeks fntUe-.-tioi/S fc've been given of a downward tendency, rf.jcularly in regard to coarse wool, meat, ifffty? and tallow. Prices for butter and cheese mid tytyeat Still maintain a very high Level, and tlie outiool; for these commodities seems particularly bright, J do not wish to appear pessimistic in rtfgfitfl to the future of wool and meat, but from present appearances it looks as thouga there\ would be considerably reduced returns, both from wool and 1 meat, during the coming year. However I let us hope the shortage in the world's supply will mean an early recovery. Tf.i.e question of shipping hue been the most .serious problem during the year, suiiu of 'ffifr freezing works lud to elo.se down owing fo the impossibility of securing space for their produce. , The,glut on the London market at ,<y jo J time looked extremely bad, numbers of ships being unable to discharge tlia-r frozen moat cargoes; and instead of being a Li" to discharge quickly and return for fresh cargoes, had to remain at the dock, or in the river, until such time as space was found for .the meat Tlie high prices for products are reflected in extremely high prices being paid for land, and 1 think that n word of caution would not he out of place here, if it is not already too late, "for many have already secured forms on inflated values. With land changing bawls at prices running up to £2OO per acre it must be obvious that only a period of high prices can justify it, and we have no guarantee that such will continue. The war has contributed ■ largely to a scarcity of food and as »c lire a food-producing country we hav" in a particularly fortunate posi- . tion. W si must pot, however, forget, that high prjeefs induce .production in otlier countries as well as Ler.e, and it may-lie thntHhe supply wjlj overtake the demand in a comparatively short time. During the past five years we. have sold to the Imperial Government produce to the value of over one hundred and twenty millions sterling at prices, which while' satisfactory to ourselves as producers, yiyi-ve considerably below the world’s parity of prje.es. The most serious effect of the war. apart from the irreparable loss of our brave soldiers who gave, their lives for the Empire or returned incapacitated by wounds, has been the adverse rates j of exchange ruling between our own and otlier countries. These adverse rates 1

meant that for our importation we have had to pay from 50 1 to 100 per e<nt more than would have otherwise been the ease. This, of course, is not an unmixed evil. It has operated in the direction of curtailing foreign importation, and forced us to resume oik trade with the Mother Country. I need hardly use the word ‘forced’, for I am sure the desire is to give her preference jn our trade, but owing to war conditions Britain has been unable to supply our requirements, and w« were getting into the habit of going elsewhere until we wore brought up by the adverse rates of exchange. In fact, in the long run, this penalty on foreign trading will probably do for inter-Empire trade than Some people imagine. ;