WELLINGTON NEWS

Hokitika Guardian, 5 June 1929, Page 2

WELLINGTON NEWS

SAGGING COMMODITY PRICES. (Special Correspondent). WELLINGTON, May 31. The prices of several leading commodities and mainly agricultural products are down to the pre-war level ; or are rapidly falling, to that point. !The hulk of the world’s wheat is produced in tforth and South America, [Australian and India contributing to ■jthe total to a comparatively small extent. Canada and the United States iare the principal producers and the position in those two {Countries has undergone a great change in the past two seasons.'. Last season the climatic conditions were favourable and beautiful crops were obtained. European Crops were above the average which meant that Europe had need to import less wheat then usual, the result being that the carry-over from last season was very large. Now it is ascertained that there will be another bumper crop in North America, and it is not unlikely that Europe too will have a good crop; this will result in an enormous surplus of wheat, that is supplies will be much in excess of requirements. and- 1 prices must decline. In the Chicago-wheat pit, which is a hot-bed of wheat gambling,.the price has dropped below 1 dollar (ss) a bushel, which is just' about the pre-war level. It is a long time since wheat has bene so low. and. yet every scheme has been put in operation to hold up tiie price. We have had pools, control' boards, tariffs with sliding scales, and whatnot and yet the price of wheat has fallen to the lowest point in 14 years. The law off' supply and demand is above all artificial efforts at pricemaintenance. Wheat, however, is not the only commodity that is down, for cotton is back. to. the low level of fid per lb and sugar is very low. A recent quotation for European beet sugar was about £7 10s per ton, A drop in wheat and cotton will cause a disturbance in the credit structure of the a United States. The farmers df the Republic will have less money; to spend-which will be reflected .ip. cost's -an'd, wage-cuts will follow, wliidh'can only add to the stringency*" Americans will lecall their credits} I IJyrqpe .anc). ..tjljat,w(ll, tighten up ; looney conditions there. AVe will feel the drop in wheat, and it is likely to have a direct effect on the country’s flax industry. AA heat grow ers will look for a cheap binder twine and sisal is likely to replace N.Z. hemp. Commodity ‘‘price' movement’s are” junifying the Iforecasts of eminent economists 0 that we have entered upon a. period of falling prices.

CHINA)TEA MYSTERIES. The China tea is thaMggjs > v in : dividual P and is always a sl /?- sidiarv crop. Thlr-perfiaps explains why there are’ ho ‘tea companies in China as there are in Ceylcin and India. Yet annual production has been around 300,000,0001 b and must’ still be considerable, though reliable statistics are now difficult to obtain. There are four chidf kinds of China tea—green, black, oolong and brick. They differ greatlv in colour, flavour, and in other respects, but are all made from the same class of raw leaf. Green and black tea have each four principal brands and each off these again is divided into three or four varieties. These various sorts are mostly named after the localities in which they are grown. To the distinctly topographical distinctions have to be added sundry commercial classifications. . Tims, there are first, second, third, -and fourth crop teas, according to the time of picking and manufacture in relation to the Grain Rain Festival. Shanghai still tfurther divides all teas into three groups. There is first the tea thoroughly prepared at the place o production, then there is the tea prepared at Shanghai itself, and, thirdly, there is the tea partially prepared at the point of production and finished off in the city. All teas pass through two middlemen between grower and exporter ancl retailer. These the the local collector and the dealer. Ihe latter is so powerfully organised and retaliate the trade so strictly that no one can buy or sell tea wholesale unless he is a member of the .guild. ]trick tea is made specially /or the .Mongolian, Tibetan, Siberian and Russian markets, and is packed in that •form so that it can be more easily and safelv transported by pack anima s on overland journeys. It is so genera and so long established a commodity, in regions like Mongolia, lor instance, where ordinary, facilities of civilisation are rare, that it is often used as a medium of exchange. There was a time when New Zealand imported considerable amounts of China tea -annually but since the developments m t'evion and India in tea production comparatively little is now obtained from China. We get a certain amount of tea from Java, and this is probably required for blending purposes.

“'NO FUN TAKE WORK.” (Special Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, .Tune 1. In looking through a Condon financial paper the writer came across a brief report of an interesting lecture delivered bv Mr H. Gordon Mtndgo to the Individualist Club in Condon. Mr Sc£fridge is an American by birth but now a naturalised Britisher Ho came to London some years back ami established Selfridge’s Store now a famous London emporium. I be < <-■ turer begau.-jvitli.'.aa appeal-for a ,v *

turn to the romantic spirit of adventure which was prominent in England two or three hundred years ago. The Elizabethan merchant adventurers did their full share in building up the British Empire and left the flag of their country flying over hitherto unheard-of lands. The spirit of adventure was a state of mind rather than a condition of geography, and if properly encouraged, he believed that the young men of to-day could still build into their lives fascinating romances and achievements and the overcoming obstacles, and they need not go to foreign shores to do so. A young man must depend upon himself, lie proceeded. When a young man in America applied for a post, he asked what was the chance of working up, and and that was ctf more importance to him than the immediate wage. The spirit of adventure piomoted self respect but not self satisfaction. It built personality and individuality and made a man stronger, keener and more commanding, and it would almost seem as if it adopted as its slogan: “Luck is fi fool; pluck is a hero.” Pride was the legitimate pride of effort. Effort and hard work were the same thing, and he believed there was no fun like work. You have to look at the happy faces ‘of the people who enjoy work to realise that. The difference between work and piny lis merely a difference in definition. The real' leader emerged from the spirit elf adventure for it helped to develop any originality or inclination towards leadership, which meant so much more than , sitting in the; seat of authority. The real leader, who ;by natural gift or appointment undertook to lead Ilfs company must prove himself: cap--a ble of imagination, of :• energy, strength ( »f purpose, of constructive ability, of knowledge of men and the world, because both were so necessary to the organiser, and the line art, of organising was one of the first requisites of real leadership. He must be strong in judgment, in will, in execution and capable of holding the loyalty and enthusiasm of others. Management also was the wise control by love, and the doing to those who were being controlled as one would reasonably be done by.

Jn all control by Government management, the ‘twentieth century man looked .for, and hoped for, the least possible .interference with bis. natural inclinations. Civilisation necessitated certain restrictions and wise control. AA’isc government enforced those and gave safety to life, health, and property and reduced its activities in every other direction to the minimum. Paternalism was bad. Too much protection, sympathy, charity, helping, and all those things were no good and tended to stunt all growth of self dependence and self-confidence. If they agreed that time was the most precious of all commodities, and Jf they raised their ideal of success higher and higher they would live happy lives full of all mental exhilaration that the world offered, which was, after all, life full and complete, and in doing so they would do much to develop again that splendid spirit of adventure- and" assist it to become part of every young man s I dream ; of.lJfe.

WORLD POWER RESOURCES. , ,

Under conditions of large scale production in industry and I the steady substitution of machine-po\Ver for manpower with a wider range of control open to the worker himself, power has assumed very great economic and technical experience, in the latest publication of the World Power Conference very full statistics of world resources especially in coal and water-power and electricity production are given. in 1927 the electrical power production of the* world totalled 180,200.000 0110 000 units as compared with about--000 000 units in 1913. Of the tota for '1920 the United States were responsible for 80,205,000,000 units and Canada 12 093,000,000 units, Britain s share beta* 8,750,000,000. A calculation of world-power production haict coal, brown coal, oil, gas., and waterpower—oil a common coal basis—shows that world power production grease from 1,370,000,000 tons in 1913 to 1 655 800,000 tons in 1927, but hard coal only accounted for 60 000,000 *° nS and oil with water power for Jiu.UUU,000 tons.