Editorial Comment

Progress, Volume XV, Issue 9, 1 May 1920, Page 781

Editorial Comment

New Zealand has just given a very stirring demonstration of its. loyalty to the Crown, and we believe that His Royal Highness the Prince of "Wales will leave our shores happy in the knowledge that this, his most distant dominion, is true to the core in its support of the British monarchy. We in New Zealand are very robust believers in Imperialism. We have had our lessons as to the value of the British Navy, the real practical value of close association with the United Kingdom; we live under a social order inherited from that com-, munity, and we know full well that our constitution enables us to provide ourselves with the purest democracy in the world. Thus there are sentimental and practical reasons for our loyalty to Britain. As Imperialists, we look to the King as. the head of this great Empirea figure of dignity removed from the bitterness of partisan struggles. Imperialism, centred around our monarch, is on a high plane. The King is the real connecting link between the Old Country and its overseas dominions. The splendid demonstrations which greeted the Prince in every part of New Zealand constituted a revelation to Ourselves as a people, regarding our capacity to enthuse. We exceeded our reputation in this respect. So recent an observer as M. Andre Seigfried, Secretary of the French Mission, wrote upon His return to France: “New Zealanders are by temperament neither expansive nor demonstrative . . . Like their parent stock in Great Britain, they are cool, reserved and serious. But we were neither cool nor reserved in our'demonstrations of friendship for the Heir Apparent, and.his visit has been an epoch-making Imperial event on which we can mutually congratulate ourselves. / ■ - A : -

The Imperial Link.

, The most serious and significant in- ... dustrial trouble of the decade unfortunately occurred immediately upon - the arrival of the Prince of Wales. - During the period' of consternation which followed a realisation that the railwaymen of the North Island were unanimously in favour of striking to remedy, some long-standing grievances, many hard things were said about their lack of loyalty, but events, we think, have disposed of this slur upon them. The war record of the railway service is alone a practical demonstration of loyalty, for 3,500 railwaymen served overseas, though they could ill be spared from their work, and 550 made the great sacrifice. One of their number won the coveted Victoria Cross, and their other war "decorations were at least up to the average. What seems to have precipitated the trouble was a letter from the Prime Minister to the railwaymen's organisations, three days before the Prince's arrival, declining the request that a form of Whitley Council should be set up to consider their many grievances. The fact that the Government 'accepted this proposal, after the strike, is an humiliating admission that the head of the Railway Department and the Minister made a grave error of judgment in forcing a climax," and creating a precedent for joint action by the railwaymen with more militant bodies of labour outside the public service. Hew serious is that mistake, time will show.

The Railway Strike.

We seem at last to have reached a point at which the prices of staple commodities are weakening. Wool, tallow, hides, and meat have suffered some decline in the world's markets, but compared with prewar, prices, the return to the producer is still excellent. While all who suffer from

The Apex of High Prices.

the stress of the high cost of living will welcome this improvement, we must hope that the decline will not be too thorough, for the whole prosperity of New Zealand is based on the returns from its primary products. Our economy is not broad based, but national thought is being effectively directed to a broadening process which is the most hopeful sign for the future. We must develop our secondary industries. Whv should New Zealanders send so much raw material away from their shores, to import a considerable part of it again, worked up into manufactured articles on which'they pay high prices, plus an average of 20 per cent duty? We have unrivalled sources of natural power, but we are slow in them. The pace must he quickened, and secondary industries, encouraged. The Government, spurred by progressive leagues, seems to realise its responsibility, but it will have to be persistently badgered.' otherwise we will lapse into the old policy of having our eggs practically in the one basket. It is a very fine indication of sound enterprise to find a large cooperative meat company in the North, Island establishing a woolleP factory. Labour shortage will possibly restrict this sort of development for a time, but there is so much room in New Zealand for the immigrant that there ought to be no two opinions about the wisdom of pushing on with a vigorous

immigration policy. The time is most opportune, for the Imperial Government-is paying the full passage rates of its discharged soldiers who wish to seek a new home in the overseas dominions. These gallant men deserve a welcome, for have they not fought for our freedom and security? The problem of absorption is not difficult just now, with a general cry for more labour, more production, but we should make faster pace with our housing schemes, otherwise this will be a still more serious trouble, and cause a falling away of immigrants which would have permanent disadvantages to the country.. We notice that the Government has made provision for the erection of five hundred houses during the current financial year, but we regret that it has not had .the courage to follow the English precedent, and subsidise suitable schemes of housing. •'-■'• '

We dealt last month with the Government Statistician's methods of compiling those important index numbers relating to the cost of living, which now form the basis of wage adjust-

Averages Which Mislead.

ments. As an example of their unreliability we quoted the latest figures of average rent, and we propose now to- show how misleading is the method of making up this average. Curiouslyenough, although there is no real check upon the accuracy of price lists collected from grocers and butchers, the rent figures are broader based, and are more likely to represent a true "average," though this is only another illustration of how figures may lie. Nearly every house" agent in New twice yearly, sends to the Government Statistician a return of rents collected, showing the sizes of dwellings. Care is taken to exclude dwellings in remote areas, so as not to depress the average by unusually low rents. But where the average is effectively depressed is in the fact that it is the poorer classes which have to - rent houses. When a workman is able to afford it, he endeavours, possibly with the.aid of a mortgage, to secure for himself a better dwelling than he can rent, Thus the proportion of rented houses is larger in the poor class residential districts than in the : better class areas, so that the value of the averaging method does not work out with house-rents, owing to the relatively smaller number of rented houses in the better class areas. If any further argument were needed to show the unreliability of the official figures as an indication of what it costs the average workman to house his family, it is to be found in the figures themselves. The poorest paid man on the staff of the Government Statistician would not be content with the sort of dwelling which the official figures say can be obtained, in Wellington for 245. 2d. per week. As- these statistics bear a close and direct relation to Current wages, it is high time that the Government extended the price-collecting machinery so as to enable direct and scientific checks' to be made of the nominal figures submitted for inclusion in the monthly compilations. Otherwise, with the good ground for suspicion now prevailing that the figures are not infallible, industrial trouble is being invited. : " /':- ■■.;:'.'_.■ " \--r : -;v..'-