The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 1920. BANK OF NEW ZEALAND CHAIRMAN INTERVIEWED.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3380, 8 January 1920, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 1920. BANK OF NEW ZEALAND CHAIRMAN INTERVIEWED.

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

There is nothing the people of New Zealand a.re more concerned about in the present than the future -What is the future going to be is the (NOStion in almost every mind at some time or another‘, and it is Very frequently the subject of mental consid-eration,~-as well as of open discussion. When a, man holding the position in this Dominion’s finance and bu.-siacss generally that Mr Harold Beauchnmp does, returns from a visit to the hub of the Empire, where he has ostensibly been for the purpose of learning something about what the future is to bring forth in the highly irllp()rt.'allt matter he, as Chairman of the Bank, 'ls- deeply interested In, his words thereon should pl‘oVe of much more than ordinary importance. In an interview after his debarkation, in Auckland, Mr Beauchamp touched briefly upon two orthree mo-st vital aspects of finance and trade. In matters governing the raising of revenue in Britain, he said, there seemed to be VBl3’ little chance of alteration; he thought old fiscal methods would continue ‘in the Old Country, but nothing was said to indicate whether this Dominion would follow in British‘ fiscal fa-oti Steps. In most British minds he d.scovered the opinion that protection would enable manufacturers to indulge in profiteering as they had done during the war; whilst free trade with its inevitable competition. would force down the price of essential commodities to a more honest level. l-I-ere is further evidence that pr!)lit-lefizlg has been ‘rampant during the xvar, and that it will continue if protective duties are not removed from “all cssential commodities. In New Zealaiid there is the standing shameful anomaly of protected industries in which their owners are growingirich on profiteering prices while thousands of the masses of the people who are taxed for protecting the industries are positively unable to purchase the commodities that are manufactured. The worki'ng—classes are taxed unmercifull-y that manufacturers may wallow in indecent profits «by -selling goods at such extortionate prices that the wages of workers are insufficient to buy. There is. Mr Beauchamp incidentally makes clear, one fiscal change that is absolutely essential if necessaries of life are .to come down to a honest price level. He says it is only the, adoption of free trade with its sequental competition that will bring pressure to bear on -profiteering manufacturers. Governments of this country have committed no greater‘ crime than that of taxing the masses to enable manufacturers in; protected industries to go on exploit~] ing to heights thatthe purses of wage.’ earners cannot reach. But this exploitation is also a. dishonest demand from all industry, and particularly from: primary industries. Systems are introduced and left to continue whether they ultimately prove-a curse or 3. blessing_ The time has come when such indiscriminate bolstering up of_ {prbflteering- curses in this Dominion must cease simplybecause the people cannot‘ furnish the money to keep‘

lthem going, and pecauseithey are a disgrace to the conntr_v’sp intelligonce., ‘Protection must be abolished and free ltrade that will bring with it a healthy lcompetition must replace it Protectied men have abused that Pl‘3Vllege the‘ ;country has allowed them; they have 3 been traitors, disloyal to the Dwple {who consented to be taxed for their gbenefit, and they. have no further lclaim upon the people who they did» not hesitate to rob by 0111113880118 PTO‘ lfiteering instantly the OD'DOTtIIIIiI3Y came to them. The minds of New lzeaianders like the minds of British people favour the abandonment of The protection curse so that free t1”&5'B competition may have full; natural play, for it is only then can there be any hope for a return to honesty in trade and lower prices Of essential commodities. Mr Beauchamp leaves 110 doubt about the British mind.’ t 0 9011‘ tinue protection is to pal’ man“f3~°t“l" ers to go on exploiting the POOI9IO with lprofiteering prices of essential com‘modities, while to revert to free trade is to bring about competition that must result in fair trade and honest prices. Mr Beauchamp seems to have felt something more than an ordinary opinion about this subject as he distinctly states that he, personally, be-1-ieves a =‘pel'iod of dear money is at (hand. As money is only pure-hasirble with commodities much in the same way that commodities are purchasafilc with money-, there cannot be any increase in the value of money Without a corresponding decrease in the value iof commodities. If Mr Be-auchamp’s opinion can be dependeded upon there is to be a fall in prices, not necessarily affecting producerst but probably by the elimination of profitcering that would follow‘ the adoption of free trade, and the abolition of protection. A period of dear money would prove an antidote to all those abuses and excrcscenccs that are the result ‘of cheap money such as speculation that is nothing more than gambling in land. Many greedy aggregators of land guilty of the indiscretion of being too free with borrowed money would ‘be compelled to disgorge, or hand their lands over to the lending bank or individual. Buteven this does lnotmean that land values would decrease——fictitiou.s- values not included ———for whatever reduction in price may eventuate during the next ‘few years“ it is a reduction likely to affect thci middleman and not the Vproducenj Dearer money means that wages would 3 buy more of those articles that are! necessaries of existence; it would buy more clothes, more boots” and more [food and lower rents; but dear money would also immensely enrich banks, financial institutions and capitalists. One turn of the financial screw \v.=_')uld mean a difference '6f hundreds of I'nil~] lions to the value of money Held andi owned by Banks and capitalists in the British Empire_ Then. is it'Tlot desir-1 able that this abolition of protectioni should extend to the withdrawal of} charters from banks and other finan—‘ cial institutions, and convert them in-1 to State conducted cstablishniftntsl We are prone to talk of the unearned i increment on land, why is the unearn-1 ed increment on money not considered. ‘ With dearer money people possessing. money would charge a higher rate of interest for it, and traders would have; to give ‘an increased quantity of their commodities to get money from thhse who have it. Such increased value of money results from nothing the possessors of» money have done to [benefit the community generally, then [why should they ‘have the advantagei of the millions in value dcarerpmoneyi would give them? Mr Bcauchamp has given the people of New Zealand much f food for thought on questions thatl most vitally affect them. Protection is a sin the people have had to suffer, and do now continue to suffer punish~ ment. for; if protection is withdrawn‘ competition throughout the Empire‘! will become so general that it would be very difficult indeed for middlemen parasites to muzzle it,’ or «batten upun it. This change alone would result in lower prices-for all essential life necessaries, but accompanied with an increase in the value of,‘ money the cost of living problenfiveuid be viral tually solved. There is the paradox; What Wollld' make living cheaper would also open up a wider channel whereby the eoncreted wealthuthat collective illdUS’£l‘Y Creates, flows ihore freely and rapidly into the possession of banks, lcapitalists and money-mongers; a pro-' cess whereby the rich become richer and the poor vpoorer. While this 1310-‘ 0955 Obtains it is not only the individ~ ual that suffers by -the increased drain{ of money into possession of mone.V~lenders and capitalists for the State has to pay more for money it rcqUil'oS to prosecute public works, and I‘-he more the State spends in improvement the greater does the drain of.mone'Y out of the pockets of the people and the State become. Well may there be Widespread consideration of the WllOlO financiai fabric; this fluetuation in the value of money is of infinitely greater concern to a -people than is the ClU€‘~'s-I tionwble. subject of the commonly ‘Jll’ derstood unearned increment. If the p'eople’s money is to increase" in Value who is more justly entitled to that im} crcment‘ than the State? _