THE OUTLOOK.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 December 1921, Page 12

THE OUTLOOK.

LIGHT ON THE HORIZON. THE SOVEREIGN REMEDIES. Wellington, Dec. ]G. • Said Mr. IT. Beauchamp at to-day’s meeting of the Bank of New Zealand: Reverting to the immediate business outlook lor New Zealand I may, in concluding, remark that our prospects are not perhaps so gloomy as may at fi -st sight appear/ We have it on the authority of Mr. Lloyd George, also on the- authority of the financial editor of the London Times, that the trade depression in England is passing away. It is said that bottom has been touched and considerable progress made with the liquidation of commodities which could not be sold last year. In this connection it is interest ig to observe the very satisfactory increase in the export of Welsh coal, which is rapidly nearing the proportions of pre-war days. Prices of raw materials are advancing, and we know that wool has already improved somewhat in price. Reports show that there are distinct signs of a general improvement' in the woollen textile trade of Yorkshire, and the wool sales held recently in various centres have disclosed a firmer tone with a good demand compared with that existing some months ago. .Meat is still under a cloud. but there are prospects oj economies and reductions being made in cost of production and marketing, such as lower freights and a more reasonable scale of wages. The highly optimistic views entertained with respect to butter and cheese has not materialised, and both have receded in value very considerably. Still, factories are now receiving advances of Is 2d per lb for butter, and for cheese, and the payments now being made for butter-fat cannot be regarded as unprofitable prices to those suppliers who are not overloaded with mortgages and bill?, of sale over stock. Moreover, any further decline in both butter and cheese may be arrested if the working classes in Britain become again fully employed. \ There does not appear to be, in the meantime, much prospect of opening up any new markets foi wool, meat, butter and cheese. The United States, under :fs Emergency Tariff, has practically shut out Australasian wool, and American sheep farmers are asking for yet further protection. Our trade with the United State? is likely therefore to contract. J would again emphasise this fact: We in New Zealand must concentrate on piaking production pay. and that can be achieved by better organisation, greater economy, 'more general efficiency, elimination ot waste, and, most important of all. by steady and consistent hard work. Work alone will fill the depleted tills of the world,'* remaked Mr. Lloyd George in his speech at the Guildhall banquet recently, an apt declaration in epigrammatic form of the most pressing need of the times in which we are living. Few will be found to question its truth. Let me supplement it by repeating the admonition of the old-time preacher, ; addressed to the workers of all time:—j ‘ Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” NO SHORT-CUT TO PROFICIENCY. There is danger at the present time of ill-considered schemes panic legislation finding favor with the masses of the people. That has been the experience of the past, and must bo guarded against. There is no easy toad to prosperity, no short cut out of our present difficulties. Hard work and economy are the sovereign remedies for our present ills, and th« more constantly and thoroughly they are practised the •sooner and the more complete will be our recovery. To dwell upon the prospect of our produce prices recovering to war levels would be .merely the resort of a people despairing and bankrupt of resources. The chance of such recovery is altogether too remote to warrant any such expectation. All the economic conditions point in an opposite direction. The tendency of commodity value is downwards, and the very circumstances of the people of Europe make ‘hat inevitable. They arc too poor to buy at high prices, consequently values must drop to a point at which the commodities will be brought within the purchasing capacity of consumers. Io bring down the costs of production in New Zealand wages, as bne very material element in these costs, must fall. It would, however, be quite unfair to expect the workers to submit to reductions except in relation to the lowering of the cost of living. Ihe •leeline of commodity values will doubtless be somewhat low. because of the natural disinclination of producers and manufacturers to accept lower values and also because the now Customs tariff will.

in some cases, operate to maintain prices at the higher level. The interests of New Zealand are intimately bound lip with Great Britain, for Britain is our most reliable customer. But. unfortunately, the Mother t.’ciuntry is faced with numerous and great difficulties. She is carrying a heaw load of debt. and. while all the world needs her manufactures, few of the nations are able to pay a fair price for the roods they require. It is mainly that 'difficulty that has been delaying revival of British trade. When it is overcome, as there seems some prospect that it will be—Mr. Lloyd George having promised to extend the export scheme there will be some, likelihood of the British masses being more fully employed, ami consequently getting into ‘ a better position to purchase, in larger quantity, the produce we arc able to send them.