DOMINION'S POSITION

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 3, 26 August 1931, Page 3

DOMINION'S POSITION

Press Association-

PROFESSOR COPLAND'S VIEW OF COUNTRY'S NEED. ADJUSTMENT TO SITUATION.

-Copyright.

By Telephone — "Post" Special Service.

WELLINGTON, Tuesday. An important statement regarding the economic problems of the Dominion was made to-day by Professor Copland in an interview prior to his departure for Australia. Professor Copland na's spent three weeks in New Zealand investigating the economic and financial position in the Dominion and his statement was made with due regard to the f acts as he saw them.

"The fall in export pnces has been fully 40 per eent," he said. "This has reduced the spending power of the rural producers and has caused a serious decline in the demand in the Dominion for locally produced goods and services and a contraction of the circulation of money. The value of the National income as a whole has been seriously -contracted and this proeess is going on now at an increas- J ing rate. "The country's productive capac•ity has not been impaired. Indeed, as in Australia, the value of export production has been increasing, but its maintenance depends upon an adjustment of all costs to meet the fall in the national income and the general decline in prices. "An adjustment of public and private finances is required. The proeess of adjustment is not proceeding fast enough. It must be accelerated if unemployment is to be checked and financial stability restored. There is no doubt about the ultimate capacity of the Dominion to solve its present difficulty, but the solution depends on the readiness of every section to accept its full measure of responsibility in the common task.

"The economic depression is so wide throughout the world and the fall in prices so serious, that return to the financial and economic standard of the post-war era cannot be expected. New Zealand will not be immune from the tronbles that have affilicted other primary producing countries. ' "Her credit is high, and she should seek by every means in her power to preserve her cherished position and that ean only be preserved by facing the full facts of her position. The i contraction of private and public fi- | nances and the falling of the national income as measured in money value, is a problem'that confronts all countrms at some time in their history. The magnitude of the problem to-day is greater than at any time in the. history of New Zealand and the solution will require'the pooling of her resourcos of leadership and knowledge. It is only by common agreement that

adequate measures can be taken and these measures must involve a genoval sacrifice and a review of the Dominion's economic policy."