AUCKLAND NOTES

Hokitika Guardian, 25 March 1933, Page 6

AUCKLAND NOTES

EXCHANGE INFLATION FEATURE

Special Correspondent,

A rather peculiar feature of the exchange inflation has 'been brought under my notice. It is said that £IOO in New Zealand money is worth now only £56 in France and in consequencemany of our people now living abroad will be forced to return to New Zealand.. But the peculiar feature is that on October 27 of last year, months before there was any suggestion of pegging up th e exchange, th e New Zealand >£l wa s quoted at 12 s 2d in Paris, the sam 6 in New York and only a -half penny higher in Berlin. Now it i,* apparently .56 of £l, or 11s 2^cl. There ha,s therefore been a drop of les s than iiv e per cent. The only conclusion is that in America and on the continent it was anticipated that New Zealand would b e forced to take the step that has now been taken and bring about parity with Australian exchange, if 6 o they evidently knew more about it than we did, and somebody must have made a. nic e little “rake off” at the

expense of New Zealanders. The Premier of Now .South Wales delivered some words of wisdom to a Methodist men’s demonstration in Sydney. He asserted that political and industrial agitators had much to answer -for with their s illy talk about “wage slaves,” as if a slav. e was not by -definition “a worker who gets no wage s .” We frequently err when we indict this political party or that because the present social order has not radically changed. Churchmen would do well to remember when they are discussing the social question that Christian ethics cannot be said to favour ary political party, since economic questions ato not primarily ethical but intellectual.” “The day of the strike is over’’ says I the President of the N.-S.W. branch of the A.W.U. “Even though the Ar- . bitration Court may reach decision unfavourable to the workers, it is better

to -accept the lesse r evil.than to plunge into what, under existing conditions would be a disastrous struggle.” The real fact is that labour unionism has pretty well collapsed under its own weight. It was all right while the unions -could force the employer to constantly pay higher wages and im-nfq-.-e working conditions. But when the limit was reached and the employer had to ce;us e to employ then the workers without- a job wanted to know what the unions wer e going . to do about it. Of course they couldn’t do; anything. So the tendency i.s now to, look to t-h.p “boss” who can possibly provide a job, -rather than to the union secretary who can’t. Probably in some cases where awards have lapsed neither workers o r employers will be anxious to havig them renewed, as the best employers will now get the best men, and these men will know that they must- give valu e in labour for the wages they receive. The demand bv Social, j ists and Comnnmvds for. equal wages j for aU. irrespective of tb. P quality pr 1 amount of work performed was rp-

parently at one time admitted—in Rusi sia. But 'Stalin stated in a recent speech that “a sy-stom of payment according to thp workers’ needs cannot bo allowed. Workers must be pa’d in (strict accordance with the amount- and ■duality of t-hp work they perform.” This was exactly what economists and industrialists had been preaching for ye a re. Another significant statement by Stalin, reported in the sam e -speech was that ‘‘hitherto there ha s hardly been any difference between th e earnings of skilled and unskilled workers, and thp skilled have had no incentive to improve their qualification.” Communism is evidently not standing up to the test of actual conditions in Russia. An employer told m, e the other, day that since the award in his industry had expired he had not reduced wages, but big employees were giving better service tnan hod bee n the ca& P for years'; there was a fine spirit of co-operation throughout, bis works, and h e was convinced if - a vote were taken the men would notwant t 0 go back to the award conditions.

There have been several rather important find s of gold recently on the Coromandel Peninsula. T|her© is at present nothing to warrant a rush, but next week there will bo some 84 applications, mostly • for prospecting licenses heard at the Warden’s Court, Coromandel. Old Aucklanders, who ■remember when the Thames goldfield started hope that something of the same kind may late,, develop at 'Coi'o-

•miandeil. That would certainly raise the depression which is now weighing us down.

The wool sales which opened this week showed little or no improvement in prices. This with the record lew prices ruling for our butter will show the farmer mor ; , conclusively than would pages of “economics” what- a fiasco the raising of exchange h?s been. It is going to bp a pretty -costly flasco however tor the people of K e w Zealand generally. The only redeeming feature appears to be 'that it will facilitate trad e with Australia -if the treaty of reciprocity—which by th-e way was the very last problem the late Mr Seddori was dealing with before h e died—can be given effect to. Otherwise hostile "protective” tariff's will neutralise any benefits which might accrue through equalisation of exchange.