WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Hokitika Guardian, 8 May 1922, Page 2

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

TRADE AND COMMERCE

AN OPTIMISTIC VIEW. SPECIAL TO GUARDIAN. WELLINGTON, May 5 Speaking at the annual meeting of . the Wellington Chamber Of Commerce yesterday, the president, Mr J.T. Martin; one of the capita! city’s most pro- , mlilent and capable business men, ; struck the optimistic note appropriate to the occasion and to the circumstances of the Dominion. He did not attempt to disguise the financial and industrial difficulties by which the country, in common with the rest of the world, was beset; but he gave their proper place and weight to tacts and figures that are making for - a lietter state of affairs and concluded with an inspiring message of good cheer. Mr Martin prefaced his address with a recital of the “slump” prices for primary products that had staggered the country at the. very beginning of his term of office. The price of meat at one stage had fallen from 25 to 35 per cent below the cost of product ion. the price of butter from 2s Id to Is per pound, the price of cheese from llid to 8d per pound, and the price l of talloiV from £s l) to £4l per ton. These d«I clings ill value, coming almost without warning, had threatened the very foundation of the rural industries. CREDIT TO THE BANKS.

It was unnecessary for Mr Martin to remind such an audience as the one lie was addressing of the enormous strain this crisis placed upon such institutions as the cine with which he is associated himself, but he paid a high tribute to the banks that had stood by the producers in their time of gravest trial. “It speaks well for the general stability of tlie Dominion,” lie said, “that not one business or financial institution of first importance has Wen obliged to close its doors or compromise with its creditors. The hanks deserve credit for the able' manner - in which they had handled the situation, making satisfactory advances on the primary products at a time when those advances incurred considerable liability, giving importers sufficient time to reduce their heavy stocks and generally refraining from unfair pressure despite the fact that their own resources were curtailed by reduced free and fixed deposits. This tribute to the policy of the big financial institutions in a time of serious national peril is of very special value coming from a gentleman who speaks concerning commnrein! nnrl nericnltural interests tvitli

the very highest authority. TAXATION. Naturally Mr Martin had a good deal to say concerning taxation in # general and company taxation in particular. Having shown .that of the eight million odd obtained from income tax last year, five million odd was abstracted from companies under an extremely arbitrary and inequitable system he made a very strong plea for the readjustment of the incidence. “It is an uneven game,” lie said, “in which one party, the Government, takes practically half the profit and never shares in any of the loss, demands its share at the end of the financial period, and leaves the other party with all the risks and responsibility of carrying stocks. The partnership is a bad one and always will be unsatisfactory so long as the sleeping party exacts unfair advantages from the other* party.” Probably Mr Martin was speaking to some extent as an interested party, but the present application of the company tax is provoking so much dissatisfaction here, as much among the small shareholders as among tile large, the Government call, hardly avoid giving some relief during the approaching session of Parliament. SOME SUGGESTIONS. At the luncheon which preceded the formal meeting of members, Mr Stuait

Wilson, WHO savs mill without receiving the attention he deserves, declared that the prosperity of Wellington and tlie prosperity of New Zealand lay in the hands of the council of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce. From this he proceeded to recite “fourteen points” which he considered necessary towards the realisation of the destiny of the Chamber in this respect. Those of more than local intei'eSt aliiong them were the ieorgahisatioil of chambers of commerce generally, the wide attention of their spheres of activity and influence, the co-operation of local and district members of Parliament, the recognition of the claims of Marlborough and the Buller Valley to a larger share of public expenditure and the promotion of a wideV aiiil more precise knowledge of local and national problems. All these reforms, obviously, are very necessary if Wellington js to carry the future of the Dominion ill the hollow of its hand, but meanwhile that is a consummation the other centres are not heartily desiring.