WELLINGTON NEWS

Hokitika Guardian, 30 December 1930, Page 2

WELLINGTON NEWS

(Special Correspondent). WELLINGTON, December 27. No one will venture to assert that Christmas 1930 is quite the cheerful period as says its predecessors, but nothing is to be gained by stressing tlie fact that New Zealand with the rest of the world is suffering from a depression that is about the worst-in living memory. It would be a fatal mistake to be fatal at this juncture, for in fact pessimism can render us no help. Depression is the. result oi errors of omission and commission committed by man and the rectification is within man’s power.

it'is very probable that the forces which cause prosperity, then recession followed by depression, succeeded by recovery and then on to prosperity remain a mystery, nevertheless .it is. well to bear in mind that the next phase of the cycle, is recovery., This, phase must be xperienced, it will force itself by the power' of economic. law. The time of recovery depends upon the severity of the depression, for' the more severe it is the longer it will take *ov recovery to make itself felt. We fl .,ve allowed depression to get a.very, strong hold, it has a .strangle-liold of « us at present. We could have prevented this but we preferred to drift hug* ging to ourselves the pool: consolation that pur condition was..not as bad as that of Australia, The few steps taken to .deni with. the. situation have been'faulty and have rather made the situation worse than before. That has been the case with the Unemployment ‘■ Board. That such' an organisation . existed to provide relief, for the Tinm- '■ ployed seems to have had the effect of li'increasing the number, of workless. ,-b NowUhe ; Government has disclosed the fact that it is apprehensive re-

garbling '.the State finance. Nine months of;’the financial year are just •about

closing and it is obvious k tbaf. *the. re* venue is ,not coming up * expectations while the expenditure ..exceeds ex-

pectations. We are told now that as a part of a determined effort'to balance the Budget and reduce posts the Government has set up a special Economy Committee to make a drastic. overhaul' of all departments.^ An “Economy Committee,’’ sounds, scientific and very formidable, .but

when the personnel is examined it 1 is - seen that politics dominate economics, for the committee comprises politicians and two Government ever, we must be thankful , even . for. tiiis, although it will mean further hardships for a great many people. ' The reduction in revenue , from Cusr'; toms, Lands and Income Tax;.and ,Rail,ways is part of a comprehensive -problem and cannot be, dealt, .with apiece-: meal. If it is us have a committee of eccihpmjsts'; bankers, busines-s men hot tainted ! With politics, the fihahtial advisorrto the Government ahd ,80$;a tnflihbpt* of; the Cabinet. Such irfchihhiittee, If ifc were given full pow’ci' t 0.., fhake. it thorough investigation, ihay be-, able, to submit some useful recommendations, but a political committee will never accomplish'' anything. position apears simple enough. So far as our export products are' concerned we are back to pre-war level, and to fit in with • that every phase of our economic life must Tie, brought back to the re-war level. ; The

position to-day may be likened ’to’,!,, A 1 team of sprinters toeing the mark and all get off the mark before the pistol. They must come "brick to the mark arid make a fresh start. : '.V ■ '{< :

We must get back to the prerWar

mark and as soon as we .get .there we will be ready for the race. Quite K numbtr of people refuse to ''bb called back to the mark principally those tinder the shelter of the Arbitration Court but they do not .-hesitate to-in- 1 sist that the other fellow particularly those that have advanced money like mortgagees and bankers should toe the mark.

This is a time for co-operation, sacrifices must be made by all. It has been well said Qiat the only place you can find “success” is in the dictionary. And even there it comes a long way after • industry,” “concentration” and confidence”. A good tonic for everyone just now is to start the day with a smile and end it was a sound sleep. Fill the .the hours in between with constructjive work, and just plain hard work,. No shadow but was made to pass, no dark that knows no dawn. Hearty co-operation healthy Optimism and hard work will pull us through, for depression would soon yield to recovery, and recovery would merge into prosperity. This is a good resolution to make this Christmas season, for the resolution embodies a simple Christian duty. THE PASSING YEAR. ' WELLINGTON, Dec. 29. ‘The year is moribund and in hours tli ait can lie numbered by less than a hundred will have passed into history, and the history of 1930 will afford interesting reading to future..generations. 'For one thing they will marvel at the wonderful progress made in scientific research, in the realms of engineering, of aviation, of chemistry ; the great strides made in invention; the remarkable progress in transport and telegraphy. * When some future generation realises all this it will also marvel that a people that have shown such progress..should have failed so tragically to develop statesmanship. We can look the world over and fail to find a real statesman, which may or may not be one of the defects of democracy. The lack of statesmanship has accentuated ' the troubles of the year,

at toast that is what a good many people consider. The, generation living to-day will remember the year 1930, not with; any feelings of admiration or gratitude, and yet both are' due to the year. : Admiration for what has been achieved and gratitude in that •we have been able to discover our faults and our errors of omission and commission. The tragedy of the year in itft economic aspects has been terrible. The fall in commodity prices developed with such dramatic suddenness and spread the world over with equal suddenness, and various reasons and theories have been advanced to account for the phenomenon, such as over-production, gold shortage, inflation of values and whatnot. While no one has been able to touch the spot or make a correct diagnosis of the malady the fact remains that the effects have been widespread and disastrous. Incomes, profits, earnimre, 1 enumerations, emoluments, salt aries and wages have all suffered, and -no section of the community appears to have escaped the devastating effects of the slump. There is no doubt that at the earlier period of the slump w© iwerel all disposed to regard it as a passing phase of our economic life; and we were all the more encouraged to ido so because the slump of 1920-21 0 f such short duration, and the recover}" soon merged Jnto prosoerity and values of commodities ascended' and kept high for some time. A section of. the community that refused to take a serious view of the slump were' .investors , and specu atom in Stpck Exchange securities. They showed marvellous' optimism and equah iy marvellous shortsightedness. To. wards , the. end, of 1929 a good many eharo' investors as well as others woke up to'the'- fact that things were not as rosy as they had 'pictured them. This shock oaiiie when the Bank of New South Wales, with a clearer vision of the outlook, declined to distribute, the .usual ..’bonus of 2i per cent. The (shareholders as a body thus had their incomes reduced by. £187,500. Even then there .were some who belieyed that the action of the Bank was merely a gesture to impress , the politicians,. They were soon to learn that this’ was no gesture for ©very month 'since we have had the recurring distressing announcements: that this or that company had reduc- ; eil its dividend, or passed It. Alt sorts of companies have been: obliged to adopt this course, and the Qontraqtion of . income of holders of shares' 'must here run into several ihillions, and the effect ha.s been that purchasing power has been -- reduced. The recession in share values -hap been enormous, and a calculation of a limited ; number of representative' stocks at,‘£*2,ooo,ooo. for' Australia, and! if >the ’Dominion, be included, and all ’looses, ? be-' calculated' the total would pr.bhabiyireach’' £SQ ? 0Op,00O. , : iV’T" TThis'is- an ''enormous loss that the holders-, of shares have borne without a 'Squeal. ;’ / I:hey .have not asked for ’ a . flibfflthrritpi or]: for any /. Government iiiierfert'ncp. r ' They': have ..faced their 'lohspfl nitlfe 'stoiottlly, nil .ore wondering ryhether rallies have gone down 'tjo^bed-rp^k,/;'There nre other sections ‘pj thc> community that have suffered also. .: '• •: ’ V

}. Land, agents are not doing the big ' theyhiyere a year or , two back]' nor yet are motor salesmen, and traders generally. There is riot a sec-tiioh-that cannot raise a legitinHite complaint, except those lucky people that are tetjll at work under the shelt-er-of the Arbitration Court. They tave suffered no: reduction ; of- income, oil :the contrary the;' purchasing power has increased owing to the fall in : cbialMbdities., Nor are they prepared to make any; sacrifice to help thecouriiry to 'recover.