REHABILITATION IN FINANCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 December 1921, Page 8

REHABILITATION IN FINANCE.

HOW THEY ARE MOVING IN ENGLAND. In two recent articles published by the Welfare League, a protest was made against restrictive legislation, and emphasis was laid on the need for national economy. It is gratifying to learn from the latest papers received from England that these two essentials are being insisted on in Great Britain by the overwhelming opinion of the best business minds. On the 15th we pointed out that “legislation which tends to prevent the normal movements of capital or interferes with the natural laws of supply and demand, must result in curtailing the enterprise on which our trade, commerce and industry depend.” We also expressed the opinion that “the Government should crll in the assistance of the best brains in the country” to advise them on a sound line of policy. In a subsequent article on the introduction of economies in the Public .Service we advocated “the procuring of the service of some highly-trained commercial men who would indicate, directions wdiere economies could be effected.” The Times (London) Trade Supplement refers to the wisdom of setting, up a business men’s committee in England to assist the Government to advise on the reform of the Government Departments, and the Economist of July 30 publishes manifestos by leading business men on the subject of economy and non-inter-ference with trade. This manifesto is of sufficient importance to publish in full: THE VOICE OF INDUSTRY. “We, the undersigned merchants and manufacturers of the United Kingdom, desire to endorse the weighty appeal y leading bankers, issued on May 12, an.J to insist with them on the need of dealing promptly with the perilous situation in which the country is placed. “At this present juncture the following problems seem to call most urgently for attention:— ’“The freeing of our trade and industry from the trammels imposed by the war is not less essential. “The interference with our commerce, whether by Parliament or by u he Administration, must be at once. “But it is perhaps even more important that the inhabitants of this country should be impressed with the absolute need for greater industry and greater thrift, so that the wealth annihilated by the war may be restored. Such restoration can only be accomplished by earning more and spending less. “By these means alone shall we be able to bear the burdens from which we suffer, to regain the foreign trade essential to our prosperity, and to contribute to the well-being, not only of our coun* try, but of all other countries on which we are largely dependent.

“We invite ofir fellow-countrymen to jon with ur in impressing on the Government, on Parliament, and on the nation at large the paramount importance of these great questions.” /

“In the list of signatories, the great staple industries —cotton, wool and other textiles, coal, iron and steel, machinery and engineering, ship-building, chemicals, building trades, railways shipping, and import and export trades—are all represented by influential names. This appeal is the complement of the bankers’ petition, and leaves His Majesty’s Government with no excuse for mistaking the emphatic opinion of the whole business community on the all-important matters referred to.” ' The League desires to impress upon our Government and Parliament that it would be well to give full consideration to this campaign, which is being pressed so strongly in the Old Land. Our burdens of taxation, and the heavy demands in the way of annual appropriations, calls urgently for review. A business men’s committee to investigate and advise is wanted here as well as in England’ if the work of reconstruction and economy is to be carried soundly into effect. (Contributed by the N.Z, Welfare League.)