THE TRADE OUTLOOK. COMPULSORY MOTOR INSURANCE.

Putaruru Press, Volume IV, Issue 117, 21 January 1926, Page 4

THE TRADE OUTLOOK.

COMPULSORY MOTOR INSURANCE.

THOUGH the lower returns from our main staples of production appear likely to be carried into 1926, says the Director-General of Agriculture in his review, the position does not in any way justify a pessimistic outlook. The reduction, as he prefers to view it—and doubtless it is a sound

view—is far from being in the nature of a calamity, but denotes a drawing away from the unusual fluctuations of values caused by the war, and a return to stable marketing conditions. If these conditions come about, he says, it will be good in every way, not the least of the prospective advantages being a stabilisation of land values on a reasonable and sound basis. We have seen a number of estimates of the present reduction in the national income, and they vary a good deal; but probably the Welling Post is fairly close to the mark in suggesting- that the returns to be received from exports for the twelve months ending on March 31 next will be £10,000,000 below those of the last financial year. In an interesting set of calculations, the Post points out that prices for meat or the live animal (sheep and lambs) are 25 per cent below those current this time last year; wool is roughly £l2 10s per bale less and the returns from butter and cheese are far below the expectations of dairy farmers. But not only are all these lower in price; they are all reduced in quantity. The estimates made as to'the g-reatly lower aggregate return from exports are necessarily approximate, and they slightly differ according to the angle from which those competent to express an opinion view the situation. So far as the Wellington paper has been able to gather and average the various estimates, they amount to the £10,000,000 above-mentioned. The wool clip last year was 562,000 bales; this year it will be less by some 40,000 to 50,000 bales, in the opinion of those in the trade, and it is worth less by £l2 10s per bale. As there are, say, 40,000 fewer bales, and those lighter in weight, £6,000,000 appears to be a fair estimate of the reduction in the returns from the export of wool. The prices offered for mutton and lambs to-day are such that the export of these important articles is likely to return to the Dominion £2,000,000 less, omitting- the diminished returns ex--1 pected from pelts and hides and some other by-products of the freezing industry. Beef is a relatively small export. Dairy produce, as the Government officers have shown in their grading returns, is over 10 per cent less, and well below the output of this time last year on a butter-fat basis. From trustworthy reports from all North Island dairying districts it is learned that the season has been most unpropitious for this great industry. Not allowing for any further fall in the market prices of butter and cheese the shortage in the return from dairy produce exported is estimated to amount to £3,000,000. Some of this, however, will not fall upon all those dairy farmers who. can face the falling- of the markets up to the end of the year with equanimity, having sold their butter and cheese at good prices. The loss in those cases will be at the other end. On the other hand, the tide of imports is steadily rising. The latest available figure* show that it was Higher by £3,790,000 for the eleven months ending on November 31 last than for the corresponding- period of 1924, although the exports were in excess by £2,834,000. But there are certain other obligations than those of exchange of goods for goods to be met. These are interest payable out of the country on account of Government loans and local-body loans; also remissions of moneys earned in New Zealand by foreign companies who distribute their dividends where they are domiciled. The Post suggests that £6,000,000 per annum in interest on Government and local-body loans payable outside the Dominion is a conservative estimate of the total amount. It adds : “In these circumstances it boks.as if 1926 will be a rather trying- time for those having- to do with :he higher branches of trade and finmce in New Zealand. The unexpected nay happen, as it has happened, to

send wool, meat, or butter, or cheese, to price levels that will partly reduce what Jocks at the moment to be an inevitable shrinkage in the aggregate receipts from main exports, but there are no signs of any such enhancements of values on the horizon. On the ‘ contrary, the tendency is for prices to keep where they are, if there is not a further decline.” Money, then, is expected to be tight in the local market. Further, Government Loans falling due in 1926 amount to £15,000,000. Such an excess of caution as would bring about a" stinting of business-like enterprise is to be deprecated; but, looking at all tire facts and figures and putting the best face on them, “ quietly and cautiously ” certainly seems a wise motto to be adopted by the Government, the local authorities, and private persons in the matter of expenditure during the present year.

THE question as to whether motor vehicles should not be compulsorily insured for the benefit of persons likely to be injured has been brought up more than once recently by our magistrates. At present it is quite possible for a person to be injured or maimed by a motor vehicle upon a road, and to have no possible means of redress if the driver happens to be a man of straw. We have, and presumably always will have, in spite of fines and sentences of imprisonment, a large number of reckless or incompetent drivers upon the road—frequently even intoxicated ones —and an injured person has no chance of obtaining compensation from one of these unless he has sufficient assets to pay the damage. This certainly is a risk the pedestrian has a right to claim protection from.

In Great Britain the question has already come before Parliament in the shape of a Bill providing for each motor vehicle carrying a third-party insurance risk of £SOOO. That may appear a considerable sum, but it is by no means more than sufficient to compensate a family for the loss of a husband and father who earned a moderately large income. And the premium payable would probably not amount to more than that required to insure the vehicle itself against damage. If a man chooses to use a dangerous machine for his own profit or convenience it seems only justice that he should be prepared to take the responsibility of his act. It may and perhaps will be objected that the law already provides fines and imprisonment for the reckless or incompetent driver who causes an accident; but there is very little compensation for a widow and orphans in the knowledge that the perpetrator is spending three months in gaol. We have known instances in which damages have been awarded by the courts, but the injured party has not merely failed to recover them, but has had to pay the costs of the proceedings. To be maimed and mulcted in costs because you have been run down by a motor car owing to the driver’s negligence or recklessness is not a pleasant experience, and something ought to be done to make its occurrence impossible. We cannot conceive of any other way than by compelling insurance ag'ainst third-party risks.