THE BANK OF NEW ZEALAND

Taihape Daily Times, 6 December 1918, Page 4

THE BANK OF NEW ZEALAND

HALF-YEARLY MEETING. The half-yearly meeting of the proprietors of the B'ank of New Zealand was held at. the Bank's Head Office, Wellington, this (Friday) morning, Mr Harold Beauehamp, Chairman of Directors, presiding. In his address the chairman said the business was confined to declaring an interim dividend and the election of a Director. The dividend of six per cent would be payable from to-morrow (Saturday). As only the retiring Director, Mr W. Watson, had been nominated he had great pleasure in declaring him elected. In doing so he mentioned that Mr Watson had rendered eminent services to the Bank during the* 24 years he had continuously represented the shareholders. Mr Beauehamp made lengthy sympathetic reference to the prevailing epidemic, and also reviewed the war in its various aspects ,giving tribute to the important? part played by the British Navy and the Mercantile Marine. He said, "the development which I regard as of * the highest importance and as the occasion for the- most profound thankfulness is the raprochement which the war has brought about between the two great English-speak-ing peoples—the United States of America and the British Empire. I may be classed as a visionary but I hold to the view that the destinies of the world will lie in the hands of these two great democracies, which will have to shoulder the responsibilities of preserving the liberties of the nations, large and small, of succouring the smaller nationalties, and of policing the world. They have not sought this leadership, but it is theirs by virtue of their ideals of liberty, justice and humanity. POST-WAR PROBLEMS. Following the close of the war now comes the difficult task of arranging the terms of peace. One of the outstanding questions for Australasia is of course the destiny of the German Colonies in the Pacific. These cannot, and must not, be returned to Germany to become in the future bases for submarines and aircraft, and therefore a menace to the peaceful development of the British Dominions in those seas. Australian and New Zealand statesmen are happily unanimous on this point. The active work of repatriation, restoration, and reconstruction must now be undertaken, and the greatest intelligence and the greatest organising ability will have to be utilised for this purpose, for at every step complicated and serious problems are bound to present' themselves for solution. It seems to me that the transition period will be no less trying and anxious than the war period has been; and the best efforts of every individual in the community will be needed to maintain the eeono7nic machinery in smoothly-run-ning order. /,

I do not anticipate any immediate variation in. the prosperity that this Dominion has enjoyed during the four years of war. There will probably be : for some time a pressing demand for our foodstuffs and raw materials. It is practically assured that the Imperial authorities will take the output of wool for a period of twelve months from June following the declaration of peace; and arrangements have now been concluded with uiem to take our output of cheese and butter for this and the following season, at satisfactory prices. This places the wool and dairying industries upon an assured footing for a considerable period. As to meat, however, which bulks so largely in our exports, the present term of the eommandeer-is for only three months after termination of the war. If this be not altered, it is conceivable that in March or April next the refrigerated stores will be full to the doors, and transportation and realisation of the meat in store would probably occupy not less than eighteen \.. tilths. It is, I consider, highly beneficial to New Zealand that these forward contracts have been made with the Imperial Government in regard to wool and dairy produce; and in my opinion it would be to the advantage of the Dominion if the principle were also extended to meat. The war prosperity of the Dominion las been large-Iy due to the operations in produce by the Imperial Government; and until, at any rate, normal business conditions prevail and shipping position improves considerably, the advantages of a continuance of these operations are to my mind obvious. • There is now in eold-store of frozen meat alone a quantity equal to about 4£ million 601 b. freight carcases; there aie also considerable quantities of cheese and butter and a large amount Of wool. In addition, there are heavy stocks of tallow, pelts, Hemp and other products, which have not been commandeered by the Imperial Government. The present season, for reasons I have already given, is a backward one, so that not much of the current year's yield has yet got into store. It must be borne in mind that all the Im-perially-requisitioned produce will have to be lifted in priority to purchases on private account; and as the British commandeer of shipping will probably

i not be relaxed for some considerable ' time, it is clear that private purchas- ■ ers would in that case have to take J heavy risks. It is easy to Tfcfflerstantl- j l that if the bulk of next season's meat. i j has to be held in the refrigerated stores pending a market being found for it, a difficult, and in some cases. : unsatisfactory,, situation would arise. I The scarcity of tonuago is likely to continue—indeed is pertain (to ;on- | tinue —for several months, notwithj standing the fact that a fair amount ! of shipping will be released through j there, being no longer .any necessity to transport munitions and men. It j may not be out of place to remind far- [ mers and others who have accused the shipowners of exploiting the public, and so profiteering, that all (ships on 1 the British Register were requisitioned during the early part of 1917 at Blue Book rates, these rates being approximately one-third of those then ob- | tainablc in the open market. The difI ference between the Blue Book rates and those now current benefits, not ( the shipowners, but the Imperial Gov- ■ •eminent. So long as the British authorities continue their control of shipping, so long will it be difficult to know just what number of vessels will be .available for our produce trade. ! It is moreover of the utmost importance to us that the income from the sale of produce should be as large during the next two years as it is this year, to enable us to meet our obligations in the meantime whilst we arc making prQjiision for the readjustment of our affairs to meet the changed conditions. Had we been able to foretell | a year ago just exactly when the war i would end, we could have made some preparation to meet the situation; but the end has come suddenly, and the post-war problems have yet to be i grappled with. One great burden that the war has forced upon us is a huge public debt. The Minister of Finance has repeatedly stated ,sincc his return from Engj land, that the public debt is about j £200,000,000. This at 4£ per cent, means jan interest bill of £9,000,000 per annum, or say £750,000 a month; and there will be, in addition, the heavypension bill to meet.- These two items will absorb about eleven millions to twelve millions a year. This is a very heavy load for the country to carry, and it necessarily meous that taxation must for some time bo heavy. There is, however, one feature about the debt that redounds to the credit of the people. A large proportion of themoney required for the prosecution of I the war was obtained within New Zea- ! land. It was recently stated officiallyjr I that the amount of the war loans rais- m j ed in the Dominion was equal to about , ' £4O per head of the population, a truly magnificent achievement. i Well as the people of New Zealand have done, the people in the British Isles have done infinitely better. The o Chancellor of the Exchequer the other day ; obtained a credit vote of £700,000,0,00 which dees not represent the end of such votes. With this vote, the total is brought up to the huge sum of £8,742,009,000. made up as under:—

The debt due to Great Britain from the Allies on August Ist was £1,402,000,000 and from the Dominion £208,500,000 ;and both amounts would be considerably larger now. It was officially stated in the House of Commons that the National War Debt on September 30th last amounted to £6,875,000,000; and there is the recent credit vote to be added, which would bringthe total to £7,575,000,000. It will probably take another £500,000,000 to repratriate the troops and for restoration, compensation etc., which would make the National War Debt about £5,000,000,000. Of the amount due to I B'ritain from the Allies and Dominions £1,000,000,000 is regarded as good, and this would leave the debt at £7,000,000,000. The interest bill would, prob--1 ably total £315,000,000, which>;'; with I the amount required for the ..normal peace expenditure, would mean a revenue of £600,000,000—0r three times the amount raised in the peace year of 1913-14. The people in Britain will be unable to indulge in any extravagances and will be unable to afford any fancy prices for foodstuffs or for anything else. And this state of af- * fairs is likely to continue for some time. But there, will, I anticipate, be no sharp or sudden decline in the j prices of our produce or, on the other hand, of the commodities we import. ■As regards imports, there is more likely to be an upward rather than a downward tendency, for a time at least, in the cost of commodities that , are imported into this country. There / is a world-wide shortage of. standard goods and of raw materipjJk and thes% cannot be produced in sih#,Jient quam: J titles to meet all demands for a very long time so, that values, when they do recede, will do so gradually, thermore, so far as New Zealand is concerned, there will be a considerable difficulty in importing goods from Britain bcause a large proportion, if not

the whole,, of our steamers will be needed for the repatriation of troops. Merchants and importers are seriously urged to study tl||#tfesiti(m carefully, and they'will realise that there is no reason whatever for anything in the shape of a panic. The situation is an onfortunate one for the general public for itVmeans that the cost of living will continue high, though perhaps not quite so high as at present. High rates of freight as compared with pre-war days, increase in prime cost, and difficulty in procuring, will still operate in reCpeet of imported goods and help to maintain values; while the prices of the foodstuffs which we ourselves [produce are unlikely to fall for some time owing to the strong demand there will be for them to feed the starving millions of Europe.. The same set of conditions will operate in Australia, Canada, South Africa, and India, so that the people of New Zealand will have no monopoly of complaint about the high cost of living. As a matter of fact, the cost of living in New Zealand is relatively as low as, if not lower than, in the Commonwealth, and certainly lower in European countries. (To be Continued.)

Year. £ 1914-15 . .. 302,000,000 191516 ... . . .. 1,420,000.000 1916-17 . .. 2,010,000,000 1917-18 . .. 2,450,000,000 1918-19 . .. 2.500,000,000 £S,742,000,000