The Financial Outlook.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 88, 18 April 1904, Page 4

The Financial Outlook.

Wellington on Thursday, Mr jSjL D. J. Nathan, atii' essing the annual 3SI meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, congratulated the meinibers on the C J volume of -trade done, which had excoeoed that of any past year in the history of the colony. Concerning the financial outlook, he is reported by tbftN./S. Times to havo said : "It may bo remembered that two rears li ago I was twitted with optimism in my reference to trade prospects, and it is thereforo not a littld g(t*atilying to me, and must be pteasanK to you, to noto that my anticipations have been more than realised. Nor can I \ at this period discern any cause for Jn " concern in relation to our prospects ■r" for the immediate future. The rise £ in the value of money all over the world—due to tho late South African struggle, the present war in the Far Bast, and the necessity for increased armaments, together with the enormous municipal borrowings—will not, in my opioSon, materially sj affect the trade of this colony, un- ' Ices Great Britain should unfortunately become involved in the Eastern trouble. Nor is there any cause to fear from the evidence I have before me any serious diminution in the value of our staple products. Owing to the troubles in the cotton market, wool may reach a. still higher figure, while butter, which may

show a difference in value of perhaps v £200,000 or £250,000, will be more than compensated for by increased production consequent on the added areas devoted to dairying and the large number of creameries and butter factories now and to bu estab-

Ushed- The output of gold and oth- * ■' er minerals continues to show a satisfactory increase. On the wholes I think I may, without desiring to fi; pose as a prophet, forecast another good year, equalling, if not surpass- * * ing, in volume of traicie, the period just concluded. *' If there is anything likely to arise to upset my calculations as to ' the future, it will be found in the £ present comparative stringency of \' the money market. The demands \ for money in the Old Country have been increasingly great for many years past, with the result that these colonies of the Southern Hemisphere - have been tnrown back more or less on their own resources. It follows, £■; .therefore, that our respective Goi ternmcnts will either have to stop public.works altogether or borrow* ** largely from local institutions. It is * a dilemma that our own Premier has -,i had to face and will still further have to overcome. Obvious it must " - be to all of us that if our fin- } ancial institutions are depleted of ». cash there will be a scarcity of money For leg.Uima.te trading enterprises; f while, on the other hand, tho stoppage of some of our most urgent * public works would materially retard tho development of the country ft. that we all desire so earnestly to go V on. To strike a happy mean will 'r ! be the difficulty presented to Farliament and the Government. It would indeed be the irony of fate If the pre- [, Boot Government having, as has <jfcen claimed over and over agin, successfully reduced tho price of money to r; settlers land others, Bhould now raise ; ; it by exhausting the resources of the - money-lending; institutions. It can- - not be denied that money has Wen | f cheaper in New Zealand than in Australia for some time past, nor have f- we felt the effect of the gradual rise •' which has been taking place in Eng- ' land for a considerable time. Taking * • the bank rate at Homo as a basis, V" it will be found that money has : gone up steadily since 1894, from an "• average of £2 2s 4d per cent, to £3 Iss lOd, and in view of present loan »' requirements in the London money |market, I can see no prospect of lowr er rates oWtaining."