THE WAR AND BUSINESS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 80, 24 August 1914, Page 4

THE WAR AND BUSINESS.

OUTLOOK FOR TRADK. At a special meeting of the TJuiiodin Chamber of Commerce, the .president (Mr. G. W. fl ills on) read the. following lstaitement, which had bten. nrejuwed bv | the committee: "The comnuittce. of tilie .Chamfber of Commence, after carefully considering all the information relatiw Ito the wtir, which lifts so far been published, feels ithat the position (to-day is jmuohl more hopeful than, if was at the 1 | outbreak of hostilities. Provided* our. jnavy does not experience a. sepoun re- ' verse it seem 9 iprobable that oiir trade routes will soon be comparatively safe. With tlie inuroved facilities which the bunking houses at Homo, haw been abie to grant, the moat harassing restrictions on trade 'have 'been removed. Tihteo twofactg indicate that business may soon tin- ■ proac'h normal conditions, so far as our [ trade with Great Britain, the United I States, our various oversea dominions. i i»d the. East are concerned. If, as we believe, the foregoing is correct, our most pressing nec ( l lies in the immediate future, say, within, the next few montlte, and all oirn- efforts at present should be 1 coucentraited upon tibiis period', ftom, tlu ; commercial standpoint «ur great danger is the possibility of tihe -spending power of the people being so reduced--either >by necessity cr by undue caution —as ito cause serious stagnation in lota" trade. The committee feelsi that ■fche.i'v is a danger of inducing this very condition through unwise ac-'tions. To avoid it as far as possible, t"he committee strongly urges on all employers of labor tJie supreme desirability of'm.unt»,inirig as many workers at work as possible. We wage-oaa-ners will scarcely be in u position to gave at this juncture, and money bo expended will noit only benefit thorn, but. by being kept in circulation, will assist in maintaining our volume. of trad'e. For the same reason the committee furtSior suggests Ito directors of public companies to endeavor in aBl cases to .maintain, the .usual divideniv—remembering Ihow many of itiheir shareholders have to depend on these for the whole of tlieir income. The banking institutions .trading in tlie Dominion are giving every facility to encourage "bona fide trade, and all sections of 'the community should therefore show e<)iuil- rc'gaid of those depending on them. J'he committee has further no liesitatioin in supporting the request of tihe Prime Minister to sc as largo an area in mn> a.s may Tie possible, and thus assist to reiieve tile effects which are inevitable from -tihe results of war. The committee, in submitting these recommendations, does not wish to be too optimistic, but ib feels that, if all sections* of the community face t'he position fairty and manfully tliev can, to a. large, extent, prevent the »"iit-r trouble which many have been led to fear, The present is not, a time fo«- ImsiiWiss men to think of making money; they should rather remember tW". u-hile others are upholding the honor of the Empire in the field it faU-< to 'hem to «Ha!iiiitain th<*. TCmpine'.s trnde. awl to from Hie miser" ami differing which must follow ajrv lei:'.;fin- neiriod of unenwloyiment." The statement w:i ."p;,roved by the Cliamlx't,