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WELLINGTON NEWS

UPS AND DOWNS. (Special Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, August 11. It. is really painful to observe the economic moves of the present. Unemployment shows another incrase and business a decrease, and with all the cost of living tends to increase. Everyone is demanding economy and endeavouring to practice economy but a good many are boginning to question .whether thrift is quite as good a virtue as it has been cracked up to be.lf one exercises thrift and tr.es to save a little he has the mortification of seeing, the tax gatherer taking what he has saved. Who is there in the community who has not suffered in income, sa ary or wages, and out ,of the reduced earnings the State demands more. Economy has been preached in season and out of season led by the Government, but economy is not yet visible. The Budget shews a net decrease in expenditure of £IIO,OOO which is a mere trifle. In the face of this it is ridiculous to assert that the cost of Government has been reduced. Ihere are many in the community who believe that Parliament is top-heavy and that the country could be efficiently governed by half the number that we now have in Parliament. That is as may he; it is a political problem and not to be* discussed here. The people have already made many, sacrifices but they have still to make a great many more and next year will provide the testing time for both the nation and whatever Government may he In power, Let us face the facts. We live and • pay cur way out of the proceeds of lour export products. Those products have experienced two disastrous seasons as regards prices. There may be a few farmers who can show a small bal- >• ance on the right side of the ledger, but the vast majority of producers have made losses. Some have not earned sufficient to pay the running costs of the farms. Interest on mortagages rents, rates and taxes are almost in all cases in arrears, capital value o country land and town lands also, for the matter of fact, have fallen. The Monthly Abstract shows that the number of land . transfers registered in June was 35 per cent less than in June 1930 The total for the three months to the end of. June, is worse, being 38.3 per cent lower than in the • corresponding three months cf last year. The con ideration rnofiey shows a great decrease, , being 41.6 low on the month’s comparison, and 42,2 per cent lower on a three months’ Comparison. Town and suburban properties record a greater decline than country properties,- rmounting to' 37.5 per cent for the three months. . Town and suburban property values • have -been tending downward . .. for several months past. The. Advance responsible for this. The cheap money of the Department was im inducement for all and sundry to ohtain a section and apply for a building loan. Land sharks had a busy time unloading sections, and carpenters and builders had the time of their dives. Building permits tfor June compared . with the corresponding month of last, year show a decrease -of 28.8 per cent for new dwellings was even more marked, amounting to 70 per cent. ■ ~aJi ; ;this is the result of- the fall, in prices of our export products and' unless prices advance the dullness and distress as we know it to-day must continue and grow in. intensity. In the opinion of those conversant with the various markets, and in a position to ifovtn a 'reasonably sound judgment, there is no prospect of any - upward movement in prices. Those interested in the wool trade admit that v.ool prices which are now below the pre-war level, are not likely to rise much, if at all. ' The experts in the dairying trade hold similar views and the same can be said for the meat trade. What will be the position of the producers and the country at the close of a 3rd season of low prices. Costs have come down so. far as salaries and wages are concerned, but the savings thus made are rendered worthless because of the demands of the tax-gatlier.' The position is one that should be taken into consideration by everyone, not in a spirit of pessimism but with a determination to co-' operate in a spirit of cheerfulness to do the best possible.!

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HOG19310814.2.7

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Hokitika Guardian, 14 August 1931, Page 2

Word count
Tapeke kupu
733

WELLINGTON NEWS Hokitika Guardian, 14 August 1931, Page 2

WELLINGTON NEWS Hokitika Guardian, 14 August 1931, Page 2

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