The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE MONDAY, JUNE 23, 1919. THE FUTURE OF PRODUCTION.

Taihape Daily Times, 23 June 1919, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

MONDAY, JUNE 23, 1919. THE FUTURE OF PRODUCTION.

With which is incorporated “The Taihape Post and Waimarino News.”

Nothing could be more interesfiiig'to the men engaged in primary production than to watch the fluctations‘ in the value of what they export and to make comparisdns with the volume of goods that is imported, because the one set opposite the other will provide them with considerable food for thought at this time, when politicians are crying aloud for more production and have not ‘the courage or do not‘ know how to apply the only specific‘ they have for the tremendous finan-3: cial"'burdens' they see looming over-«I head. O’ne shrinks from the thought of produce dropping to anything like pre-warvalues, for all the prosperity": this country can boast 0+? is lbetterl prices for goods sold; thcincrease, orl decrease of production of recent years only bears resemblance to the ordin-j 'ary fluctations experienced in pre‘war days. The farming community‘ will particularly note that in a long {series of years before the advent of ithe Massey Administration the export lvalue of their produce Was averagely about two-and-a-half millions in excess of the average value of what it was needful to import; in other ‘Words they were laveragely tWo-alld-a--half niililons on the right side of ‘the lledger at each annual balance. This was certainly none too large a margin ‘of profit, and it by no means led one to get the impression that this Do!.m'inion would become self-contained lin the near future_ When the Massey llxdministration took posesssion the annual average excess of exports over imports at once fell ‘to one million; a million and a-half less than the aver;age of other years since the commcnccmcnt of the century. It was ;only in the years of war that this ‘million a year excess bounded up as ‘a result of higher prices for all primiary products. Prior to 1911 every ‘individual in the country had a

credit balance of some four pounds between exports and imports; during the Massey regime ‘that credit balance shrunk to about ten shillings a yeah} until the war years, when everything became abnormal, but one can very well imagine, what condition the finances of the country would have been in had they remained under the control of Reform, and there had been no National Government_ The out. rageous waste in the Defence Department is ample indication of what would have happened in Naitional fin. ance. Abnormal conditions have, luckily for the Dominion, increased the value of exports and reduced the volume of imports until the excess is Somewhere about £8 or £9 per individual. The men who have produced the exports have had their collective income increased by some nincl or ten million pounds per zrnnum in‘ the last three years of war. It is admitted on all sides that Drodllce prices are abnormal, that they do not accord, or synchronise with other ‘conditions of life and trade; that they are unnatural, and that therefore they are certain to drop consid~ erably until afncarer natural level is reached. Farmers must in all their calculations for the future, take into consideration the all-important 'faet ‘that’ there is no taxable w"'eal’ch Other than that they produce, for insanely bolstered industries contribute nothing worfh mentioning in exporting what raw materials they have worked up. In their want of understanding farmers are agitating -for a. reduction ofl burdens’, urging that trading and financial concerns should have -their taxation responsibilities increased. If the money those institutions. handled was anything but what the farmer has produced it would be a Sane, businesslike attitude -to take; but so

long as Insuraiice Companies, banks and other trading institutions merely

operate with the money the farmer‘ earns, farmers"may rest assured that. any increased taxation» will be passed either backward upon the producer,| or forward upon the consumer, which I is much the s_ame thing, as the con-} sumer also ha_s_ to live upon production_ What we desire to emphasise! is the_ obvious fact that we cannotl increase taxation, or any, other vexpenditurc demanding anything above! the normal value ofiexports, without l incurring disaster; we must produce more, or we shall merely be squanderillg our principle, which is the land that is given as security for all loans i whether they be raised by general or‘ 10031 80vernments. It is amazing -that a Government with a farmer at its head should have placed production in such parlously unsatisfactory circumstances. In normal times exports only exceeded imports in value by one million, which, if continued,“must have brought ruin upon the. industry. | Where did the surpluses ofrevenuen oVel' expenditure come from in the! few years before the war? They did‘ not come out of the mean excess of exports over imports; then it is cvid-‘ ent there should have been no surpluses; the money should have remained in -the possession of the producer from whom it was taléen, and who, before the war, needed every shilling to enable him to increase his production whereby to live with some degree of comfort. It will ‘be said that taxation rendering surpluses ‘p6‘s‘s'ible did‘ not come from farmers entirely; sxich statements are pure humbug, whether‘ it was paid into the exchequer by the rich banker, or the’ starving widow, whatever it was they contribu-ted filtered into their hands from the onlyl source of wealth-production. Stopl production in New Zcaland for a few‘ years and see what. will become of our boasted financiai and trading in-i stitutions; see how soon mercantile. firms and representatives of industrial capitalism would pack their car—i pct-bags and bid ‘good-bye to God’s' Own Country. Production makes the country what it is, providing the money whereby all classes live, ~lt is production that, governs, I)_l7ospel‘ity and the want of: it that C3._lJSeV_S“;fall_'lillG.r. If .-abnormal taxation ..is to be levied , it is production that must ~ pay ,-it," and , producers: have ample warning of this} fact in the cry that is being heard], from agitated men in the Cabinetfi room, in VVellington. and from its be? ing shouted over 12,000 miles of ocean by the two leaders of the National Gnovcrnnient in Britain. This country has been running its Government, not Government I_f_unning the country; the Government. has ignorantly or sclfishly misuscd_ the wealth production provided, and it is now exhibiting" alarm; it is yelling “Production” and does not -know how to put in operation the means for increasing production; it is crinl\iila_lly allowing some ninety men to have holdings of. over 50,000 acres each in extent, while it is known to be llllpoSSl.bl€,_fQl‘ either one of these holders to niake his 50,000'acres produce their quota to the upkeep. of the administration, and in _feeding the people. Financial institutions may be taxed, workers may be taxed, but «the money in those and all other cases must come from_the only source or wealth, that in the hands of farmers; and if this country is rushed illto debt its liabilities can only be finally met from the cheques producers receive for their produce. The incidence “of taxation is not of Very great Col’lC€l‘ll to the farmer only that he should see that as the money he raises passes along each handler should. contribute a fair quota, for anything beyond a fair quota will be passed back to him; or forward to the masses, who also get their money from production wherewith fo pa? O"€Tt3Xillg The financial and trading institutions that farcmrs will persist in upholding comes back by intitutions illcrea's‘il'lg their charges in interests or other directness, while passing on to consumers originates strikes and labour upheavals. "We believe producers will eventually go to the root of their troubles, but in the meantime it is essential that they encourage “More Production ’.’ by every possible means in their power, politically and otherwise. -