“MUST COME DOWN.”

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2346, 25 October 1921, Page 1

“MUST COME DOWN.”

COST OF PRODUCTION.

Stress was laid by the Prime Minister in the House of Representatives this week on the fact that the cost of production must come down. He was talking at the time.on the meeting of producers and shipowners held while he was in London to discuss shipping and allied matters, and which decided that freights, etc., would be reviewed in the first week in January. “I remember making a statement to that meeting,” said Mr Massey, “and. it is a statement that I don’t think can be controverted, that there is not a sheepowner in New Zealand to-day who can show a balance on the right side of his account for the past season. I trust that we will not repeat that this year.” Personally, he did not think they would, for there were indications, such as the slightly-improved price of wool and the reduction of three-eighths of a penny in freights announced recently, which gave promise of better times. The arrangement made at the London meeting, he added, was satisfactory as far as it went, biit as far as he was able to judge it had to go much further. The producers had to cut down expenditure if their accounts were to balance on the right side. , The cost of production had to be reduced. He was not speaking of the wages of the men, but of production itself. If New Zealand was going to compete successfully on the markets of the world, it must cut down the cost of production much further. One of the things would be a reduction of freights. “We know,” he said, “that the depression has affected shipowners, just as it has affected others, but we also know that the cost of coal has'gone down. Dock charges ha\4 also been reduced, and we have to keep on bringing pressure to bear until we can look the whole world in the face and say we can run our business and run it at a profit.”