ECONOMICALLY ILL

Hokitika Guardian, 30 June 1921, Page 4

ECONOMICALLY ILL

(Mercantile Gazette). fo The speech of Mr Harold Beau- F< champ, the Chairman of the Bank of io New Zealand at the annual meeting to of shareholders of that institution was as as usual interesting and instructive, « and covered a wide range of topics. Per C haps the most interesting part of the tl speech was the reference to the present h economic conditions. “The world is to- e; day economically ill,” remarked Mr n Beauchamp, which is very true, and he C might have added that there arc a number of economic quacks and eeo- 1' j nomic faith-healers anxious to treat <‘ I the patient. The cry has over been ! that it is essential for capital and la- ; hour to come together and to co-oper- ’ ate, for their interests are the same, which also is very true, but no one has _ taken the trouble to educate labour ‘ I into seeing the force of this, while nitI morons self-seeking agitators and la- ' hour bosses have succeeded in making : the workers believe that the interests ( of capital and labour ate divergent, y j and that capital is ever trying to erii fi iave the worker. In furtherance oE i this sentiment strikes, direct,- action, i ' ‘go-slow ” sabotage and irritation tac- ! tic . s arc advocated, and put into opera tion Tho economicfaiths built on economic fallacies collapse before there can he any real prospect of the eo-opera-I tion of capital and labour, but that ' ( . o p, ipP , -will he brought about, not by ; propaganda, but by the hard knocks of Unemployment. yfr Beauchamp sees no immediate prospect of any recovery. In that he is perhaps less pessimistic than the Arbitration Court, which is “inclined to the view that the present depression has not yet readied its lowest point.’ There is no easy road to recovery, we ' must rclv upon thrift and hard work to carry us along. “AVo must endeavour to make production pay on the basis of present prices and to that end ' there must he a contraction of profits and a contraction of wages, with greatly increased efficiency of production, 1 thereby lessening its cost” is the very good advice that Mr Beauchamp gives the community. masssaamacamtmmmm i m ira