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Hokitika Guardian, 2 December 1924, Page 2

Till-: exchange problem was discussed h.v the president of the To An> Advancement Association (Mr A. A. George) in 1 1 i.s address at the annual meeting of that organisation on Tuesday. Mr George expressed the opinion that the problem affecting New Zealand to-day was largely due to the fiscal policy which the people of the country had supported for 1,0 long, lie believed however, thill a new day was dawning, when freedom of trade would he an accomplished fact. “The neglect of natural pioduction in favour of bolstering up industries unsuitable to the Dominion and a burden to the community must come to a common ending.’’ said Air George, "and the sooner this‘-comes the belter it- would he for everyone. Protection had not only increased the prices of commodities and lessened consumption. hut had restricted the natural

llow of trade, and as a consequence the export of our products was penalised by the exchange rates which unhappily existed to-dav. Many individuals were blaming the banks for the present conditions, hut unjustly so. lor alter all the making and exchange of credits was governed by the exchange of goods for goods according

to their relative value and volume, llow long the present state of affairs would continue it was hard to say. hut it was safe to assume that it would last for a considerable time. My suggestion to the Government to relieve the jierplcxity,” lie said, l- is to reduce nr suspend all Customs duties. Importations of goods we need would then l e increased and supplied to the benefit of the consumer at a great saving in cost.

'roduotion would be cheapened, and a

substantia! gain afforded to those engaged in producing our natural product for sale and consumption in countries

abroad. Any direct loss of revenue could justify and easily be made up by a tax 011 the unimproved value of land, ami here again a great benefitwould accrue. The ruinous speculation

in land would cease, and the Government. would reap nothing more than its due—that is, a ground rent 011 the community—created value of land. Tt is not the importation of bank notes that we require to secure an even rate of exchange: that- would only lend to further inflate our present currency. What we want- is cheap British goods, cheap materials, and cheap living.”

'lt appears to be that the Govern

incut- of Now Zealand, as well as the community as a whole, are inflicted with a mania for IxnTowing.” remarked Mr A. A. George in his presidential

address at the annual meeting of the Te Aro Advancement Association on Tuesday. “Tlio alacrity displayed in piling up huge debts without thought

of the liability incurred, and the neverending burden arising therefrom, reveals a portraiture of the people of New Zealand that is neither creditable nor prudent. ‘High finance’ apparently is measured by the success in obtaining loans, and in postponing the ‘evil days’ of payment. The Government obtains sums running into millions on the assumption that one generation, and as a consequence the unborn, who have no say in the matter, are the selected victims to ‘pay the piper.’ It is upon this painful assumption, and on the

plea of borrowing money for the purpose of making public improvements that the Government pursues its rookies: course of action. 'What, may 1 ask, is the result? ft is this: the Government get control of funds which itcould not possibly raise by means of taxation (no community would submit to such a levy) but which in the scramble to maintain 'place and pay’ is more often than not spent in wasteful expenditure than in buying the support of those who would otherwise resist such unwarranted expenditures. Surely we are here to leave the world a little better than we found it, and to me it is sad to think that generations should pass away without making an effort to discharge their ow n liabilities.”