BUSINESS DEALS.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 March 1920, Page 11

BUSINESS DEALS.

A LOSS OP NEARLY 4s IN THE £. NEW ZEALAND A PROSPEROUS COUNTRY. London, Dec. 22. Some interesting facts were brought forward by Sir Thomas Mackenzie in an address to the members of the Herts Philatelic Society. Ho described New Zealand £s probably one of the most prosperous countries in the world—if not the most prosperous; also perhaps the most financially sound. ( He maintained that if New Zealand required to go into the money market she ought to be able to borrow money at a lower rate than the Imperial Government. The reaeon for that statement was that, firstly, we were a great exporting country, exporting much more than we imported, which showed a surplus of wealth, even above that which we had to pay on borrowed capital. Then, regarding our financial position, last year, notwithstanding the very heavy charges the war had created, showed, a credit of about four millions. That, with a previous surplus, represented surpluses of 14$ million pounds on the ordinary transactions of the country. It was. probably undesirable to draw contrasts which might not be to the advantage of the Home Country, but we had to face things as they were and keep the credit of our country as high as possible. Now Great Britain, unfortunately, instead of having a surplus for the year, would probably be or. the wrong side of the ledger by six or seven hundred million pounds sterling. That in itself justified New Zealand in expecting to get her financial accommodation on better terms. Recently a considerable amount of business had been done between the United States and New Zealand, and here the figures showed that New Zealand exported to America about two million pounds' worth of goods per an-, num and imported over four millions, and as-the exchange between Great Britain and America was against Great Britain we, in the payments we made for our merchandise, lost nearly 4s on each sovereign, that is to say, we received about 15s for every sovereign we gave America in payment for our accounts- This, however, was not a true statement of the position, because | America had, during all the war, drawn much New Zealand produce through Great Britain, especially wool, and if New Zealand received the credit for her wool, that America used, we would not be on the wrong side and we should not lose 4s on every sovereign we paid to America beyond the difference of credits as appearing on paper. It was necessary that we should receive the full value of our sovereign, from the United States, inasmuch as the United States was receiving much higher prices for meat and other commodities than was New Zealand when the United States supplied these commodities to Great Britain. The savings of our people, too, showed most satisfactorily. In the savings bank for the year they had deposited £ 15,000,000. Our soldiers had also been reasonably treated by the Government, and no less an area than 807,000 acres of land had been declared open for settlement for them, and advances had been authorised up to £318,000 to assist those who hafl settled in urban districts, and £1,150,000 for those who had taken up rural land. New Zealand was attracting people' of tfvery grade in the Old Land; many of the best families were leaving Great Britain to taka up their permanent home there. The country had a fair future. Its statesmen were alive to the important work they had before them, and New Zealand would continue to enlarge the already very high reputation she had so deservedly won.