WELLINGTON NEWS

Hokitika Guardian, 15 August 1930, Page 2

WELLINGTON NEWS

ADVERSITY’S GRIP.

(Special Correspondent.)

WELLINGTON, Aug. 12. , The Bank of New South Wales has s embarked on a new venture which should prove of very, great benefit tQ the people of Australia and New Zealand. The new venture consists of the issue of a circular, and the introduction to the first number says: “The present difficult times have brought forward numerous inquiries as to the present position, the cause of it, its possible duration and the remedies to bring about a return to prosperity. To assist in some small measure in answeiing these inquiries it is felt that the blank should issue a circular from time to time in which such problems should be discussed from the theoretical as well as the present practical aspect. Later it is proposed to include statistical and other information, also to publish .signed articles bj T leading economists and others.” In the first circular Australia’s economic position,- and the remarks ami views expressed apply equally to New Zealand. The obvious fact is stated that adversity grips alt mankind from China to Peru. Manufacturing as Well as agricultural peoples are iii difficulties. Unemployed are numbered by the million in the United States, Germany, and Britain. There must be world-wide Masses at work, and,yet in every continent j- people ore offering massQsj/of goods,; and all at bedrock pricesj i.The writer of the circular,con-' tends jfjliht the difficulty must lie ill arr.ijjjigijfg terms and media of exchange, i.e., • money.--: “The essence of trade is sihj exchange, of .surplus goods. Titerare' goods in plenty, but riven 'cannot buy from others till they sell their own •> It is not a lack of physical means ol transport. Never was there so much idle tonnage rusting in port, never such a variety of rail and road vehicles, nor so many well made roads. The goods are there. The prices asked for them are low. The air is thick with talk of organised marketing.” There is, no doubt that the exchange of, goo,c||, the levying of high and inCustoms ditties. MiGbods that rive '(?he'4p where they are sold f.o.b, are liriari wlidre;tWy ; are bought, duty paid, }frid thfs'iiVkpi'fe of'low freights,. “Govfcijiunentslare'the greediest of all middle jrhWjfi .Ojit their prices as producers liiia'y'j subK; goods at landed cost plus jduty ? are: -ojit iof would-be consumers’ And tlie circular adds-:<. • - *fjif league with Governments tlmt-must'tax PQnji financial?, necessity are; patriots land manufacturers filled with nervous , rJ xeal,„tp,mpi>e .their countries ' self-suffi- ' cient lest,' or in order that those Countries may find themselves short of essential goods at time of Whin Thus through need of revenue alid love oi local industries, tariff barriers are stopping the exchange of cheap goods nnd “beggaring-my-neiglibour all round the globe.” The worst offender in respect to tariffs is the United States of America, and this arch-offender is fhe world’s, greatest and unsparing creditor. Deb-' tor countries are hampered from paying <g66tlst,interest they owe; tins I, jgieat,.creditor ; Nothing . seems; accepv/,table -to' ’.the'-"United States but gold. \ , The result is that gold is in unusual jy, I Remand , to-settle international debts. % i' •■This -action, which us extremely selfish the part of thi- United States, nas . P r^es measured in gold to de- ; U predate. In the circular it is stated £ \ that the years since 1925 have witness- • ed a fall in prices stated in gold of a severity and duration unequalled in time of peace. What is the remedy?. The answei given in the circular is sound and to th^ipint: “Now that turnover and prices running against us in our main lines, we have less capital to put into such-side shows (such as fancy and d exotic -protected industries). We must ~ K e U more return out of the established somehow, (in other words we Artist .‘do - more in respect to the production of wool, meat, dairy produce, etc.) This is no time for experiment- \ , .'. Let us' tune lip,, the main businUvessrir; The circular is interesting bn every line arid it is hoped the Bank will find occasion to issue morq such circulars, for economic problems are the troubles/ of the present.”