AUSTRALIAN FINANCE

Hokitika Guardian, 2 January 1930, Page 8

AUSTRALIAN FINANCE

A WORD OF ADVICE. The “Sydney Mail,” of the 18th inst prints the following from its Financial contributor: — “Someone has cynically described a pessimist as one who has had dealings with an optimist. Yet one may take leave for doubting whether the outlook is quite as black as the pessimists would have us believe. A young country like Australia in the process of its development is bound to suffer vicissitudes of fortune. Prosperity does not flow smoothly without interruption. The,., violent fluctuations of fortune to which we are subjected are, more or less, in the nature of things and inevitable,,in the • evolution of a nation that depends so much on the caprice of the seasons. By this time we should have become accustomed to the ups and downs and variations' duo to the incidents of droughts and floods the rise and fall of the price of our and the turn of the political wheel.! Yet,with the first breath oi adversity come/ the persistent croakers chanting theiri dismal chorus df ‘bad times, bad times,’ until they really bring about the very conditions they have predicted with mournful reiteration. The times are difficult, certainly, but they are far from being desperate. Cop] heads are needed, and stout hearts ..also; men not afraid of life who will yet weld the widelyseparated parts of this young nation into a coherent whole, and give it adefinite aim and purpose. For tho moment our .public policy lacks balance. Too much unproductive borrowed capital has been sunk in what are euphemistically termed ‘reproductive works,’ and the equilibrium must be restored. The task lies before us and must be tackled with energy and understanding, hut pessimism will not help us! The same want of balance is apparent in our financial dealings; one day we rush headlong into all kinds of ventures and the next we are selling out in despair. Six months ago almost any ‘wild cat’ scheme if plausibly presented was certain of support, but today the most promising of legitimate enterprises would fail to attract capital if required on a fairly large scale, not because the money is not available, but simply because people will not risk it 'for fear of needing it urgently in the crisis we are told to expect. What is wanted is a. breath of fresh air to clear away this poisonous miasma of doubt. There is no reason in existing conditions why leaders of the finacial world should not come forward to supply the necessary corrective and infuse confidence into the community.”