WELLINGTON NEWS

Hokitika Guardian, 17 November 1930, Page 3

WELLINGTON NEWS

UNECONOMIC SCHEMES

(Special Correspondent)

Wellington, November 14

The depression, which is relatively a mild affair in the Dominion but nevertheless serious enough to set people thinking, which perhaps is all to the good. Jf people would think along economic lines we would not be troubled with so many proposals that, are li|tli silly and dangerous. Almost every other man lias a remedy for the depression according to his own idea, and if it remained a secret with him it would be a good thing, but many whose schemes are illogical, unsound, and calculated to do more harm than good, rush i*jto print, and because they happen to hold some sort oif a position in the community in which they reside, their schemes attract attention. J

At the meeting of the Otago Employers’ Association there was considerable discussion on the problem of flow the relief money is to be spent. One suggest on was that farmers should he subsidised to enable them to re.tdih hn their service men who had hieh>-taken on only for seasonable jobs and keep them going for an extended period on such work as hedging and ditching and fencing work that was often' neglected because farmers are compelled to economise. There was another suggestion to establish a series c.lf cottage farms and thus enable men who ;ire not tra'ned to country work to obtain practical experience. It is also suggested that .the authorities should organise the firewood made in conjunction with afforestation, using some the relief funds in encouraging the work I ess to bring to market the lappings and thinnings from plantations. In the north of Waikato dairy farmers have become alarmed because a chain-store group is selling butter at “catch” prices, manager, who was present meeting, had the presumption fsi&SS&ert that townspeople would pay .npitoTs 6d to Is 8d per lb for their butter Jf. the farmers could be assured of a payable return for the whole of their output.

All the proposals look good on paper hut when they are placed under the micrqscope they are foun dto be uneconomic arid dangerous: Why should farmers be subsidised to carry out fencing and other jobs about a farm simply to keep men unemployed? Why .should, not the flax millers ,timber millers, shoemakers and host of others re .similarly treated? Then again how long are the 'farmers to receive the subs’dy'? This depression that we are experiencing, • according to the best world authorities, is likely to last from two to .three years. We are all lipping that.the fall in commodity prices lias been arrested.

■■.■•NoTone. js sure.of that, while on the other-.'hand there are indications that the;; downward trend has ended, there are -other.-'indications that gold is continuing to appreciate to the detriment of commodity values. However, the depression is likely to be with us during the next two years, and are the farmers and others to be subsidised for thn t-"period ? If they are will they not secure a vested interest iii such subsidy necessitating the continuation of the 'unemployment tax which is a very unfair mie ?The members of the Otago Employers’ Association, though halfheartedly, were hearer to probing the cause of about three-fifths of the unemployment existing, partly ow.ng to inelasticity, but mainly because compulsory arbitration is not an economic scheme for settling disputes.

The Arbitration Court requires to be abolished, for it stands in the way to-day. . The flaxmillers in the Manawatu have in open meeting expressed their willingness to go to work at a reduced wage, but they cannot put their good intentions into operation, jjgcau.se some time back there was an ,a.ward made, and neither employers nor employees can go behind that award,. Until the Court sanctions the workers to accept the reduced wages "nothing’.can be done. The men are forced by the,. Court to remain unemployed and half-starved. Ilf the flaxworkers were not held in bondage like serfs by the executive of the union, the men. would be earning enough to keep, themselves and their families in ■some .comfort, and would themselves be contributing to the unemployment fund, i

: Their products would be sold overseas, and their wages etc. would come iron] outside sources. Tt is not subsidies that farmers want but lower costs of production. Wool, meat, butter, cheese, hides skins, tallow, etc. are sure to rule at the present low level of values for some time, which means little or no profit to the farmers and restricted spending power. We want the farmers to make a profit .even with current low prices, and that can only be done by reducing costs, and to . reduce costs we must wipe out the Arbitration Court.