AN ANXIOUS YEAR.

Hokitika Guardian, 17 January 1922, Page 4

AN ANXIOUS YEAR.

(The Mercantile Gazette)

The fall in the values of all our primary products is going to make the year 1922, one of extreme anxiety, if not of cruel hardship to the people of New Zealand. The position is so very serious that it cannot be wondered at that a variety of schemes is suggested of minimising the probable effects. It may be stated with a degree of safety that producers everywhere are suffering from the impudence indulged in during the war years. In every country the aid of the Government is beingf sought to prevent disaster and in every instance this interference on tlio parti of the Government has been futile and costly to the taxpayers. We have become familiar with the \ fall in wool, and the low prices are accepted with very little murmuring. The prices of crossbred wools are said to be below the cost of production, and all efforts to force up prices even with the aid of “Bayq-a'’ have proved useless. | At every woo} sale there has beep good demand at the low prices rpling gnd J those who examine into the matter realise that there is a consumptive demand at the prices because the prices are low and) within the purchasing capacity of the) impoverished people of Europe. Meat has slumped and this; trouble is sought to be overcome through the operations of Mr Massey’s Meat Pool. The scheme has not been outlined in detail probably because there are no details that can be outlined, but the ‘ broad scheme is to scrap the present machinery of distribution, and replace it with something ns vet undefined, hut which is to have as its main support the money of the taxpayers, and the I compulsion that Parliament can exercise. It is stated in a Government newspaper that it seems beyond question that if a pool is put into working operation mportant economies will be effected in the freezing, handling and oversea transport of meat. It is not explained how economics are to he brought about. The cost' of freezing handling, .and transport is mainly .accounted for by labour wages, and how wages can be reduced with an award of the Arbitration Court filed and td operate for two years remains to be seen. As for reduction in freight it must he remembered that shipowners too are experiencing a very bad time, and ships are laid up in all parts earning nothing. The shipowners have no Massey Government to help them with the money taken from the pockets of the t;ixpayers. Butter and cheese have have followed in the wake of wool and meat, and the latest quotations are on a par with those ruling in December, 1913. It is impossible to write calmly about the dairy produce trade, because in August last just prior to the opening of the season, most of the factories had the opporunity of selling their outputs for the season at very profitable prices, hut’ acting on the advice of some of the socalled experts in the trade,, the offers were in most cases refused. The factories were informed that the buyers had not hid their limit prices, and by holding off the limit would be reached. There was probably no foundation in fact, for the statement, hut it came from the experts and that was sufficient. Now the Government will he asked to “nurse the baby,** to pay for the childish mistakes of the directors of the dairy factories. And Mr Massey, in pursuance of his paddock politics, cannot well refuse to the dairv farmers the assistance that he is offering in respect to meat. The Government’s connection with the current season’s wheat crop is also one that will require investigation, for

it will mean further loss to the taxpayers. The Government proposes to buy wheat for export from the opening of the season, a.nd because of this, according to the Minister of Agriculture, “tiie millers in their own interest will he forced to compete for the good quality wheat,” that is to say, they

will have to bid up to the fancy price

fixed by the Government and the people of New Zealand will pay dearly for their bread, and if there is any loss on the export business, as there is hound to be, the people of New Zealand must stand the loss. The year is going to be anything but pleasant for us. It is possible there will be more unemployment, and it is also probable that the Arbitration Court will make al reduction in wages, but not sufficient to prevent an increase in unemployment.