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Progress, Volume XVII, Issue 1, 1 September 1921, Page 5

The State of Trade. There is nothing more eloquent of the stagnant condition of trade than the curtailment of the New Zealand railway service, and the laying up of thirty steamers usually engaged in the coastal and intercolonial traffic. This happens to be the quietest part of the year, when the important staple products of the Dominion are not ready for the market. Some slackness is always evident at such a time, but it has been accentuated this year owing to the scarcity of money curtailing the enterprise of those who wish to make ready for busy times which come with the reaping of the harvest. For the first time in many years, the New Zealand railways have failed to return sufficient to pay all running charges and interest, hence the reduction of mileage, which the commercial community has accepted as a reasonable policy under the circumstances. New Zealand is not by any means singular in experiencing bad times, for the principal railway systems of the world show similar symptoms of high costs piled upon a reducing revenue. Fortunately for the New Zealand railwaymen, the staff has been short for some years, and the men who did so well in handling heavy traffic with inadequate appliances are now reaping some benefit by their exceptional work. Arrears of holidays long overdue are now being taken by the railwaymen, and the service, as restricted, can be conducted without overtime which was so constant under normal traffic conditions. New Zealand's prosperity during the last six years has been due, not to high production, but to high values. We have now reached the position when nothing but increased production of staple products will meet the.needs' of the times, and as the railways charge for services,' not on the basis of values, but on weights, we can predict that the slump, so far as this undertaking is concerned, will disappear with the coming in of the productive season.

Housing in New Zealand.

Among the details disclosed by the last census are those relating to the number of inhabited

houses in New Zealand. The total increased during the five-year period, but when the increase in population is taken into account, it is found that there has been only one additional house for every five or six additional people in the country. Thus it is evident that the housing shortage has hardly been touched, despite the activity of the Government and some local bodies. In Auckland, the centre of largest population, it is satisfactory to find that even under the present conditions of depression,, building is going on apace, and the timber mills are hard at work providing material principally for dwellings. Christchurch City Council has given special attention to the problem owing to the serious overcrowding existing in its area, and it has adopted an attractive scheme for quantity production of wooden dwellings to cost about £6OO each. The Government has been asked to help with finance, and probably it will give the required aid although the Consolidated Fund is loaded with exceptionally heavy obligations at the moment, owing to the scarcity of private employment necessitating a heavy expenditure on public works and special relief works. When the problem of housing was mentioned incidentally by a Labour deputation to the Government recently, the Acting-Prime Minister, Sir Francis Bell, made the singular suggestion that this was a matter for the local authorities. He believed that the local bodies would resent the Government "poking its nose into their business." Francis Bell must have forgotten the actual policy of the Government, which undoubtedly regards the housing problem as a national one, because its main activities are carried out by a State Department operating in many cities and towns in the Dominion. That the Government, when laying down its policy had regard to the local authorities, is evident from the financial arrangements it made in the last Housing Act. There is provision for loans to local authorities for housing purposes, but these loans were restricted,: indicating that the Government proposed to shoulder the main responsibility. Auckland and Christchurch have been the only, local authorities to complain of the restricted extent of the financial arrangements in the

Act, which shows that as a general rule, the community is well content to leave the problem to the State.

Parliament and the Tariff.

It is so many years since the New Zealand Customs tariff was revised that the coming session promises to be especially interesting, for this is the biggest task on its programme. When the late Hon. J. A. Millar, as Minister of Customs, undertook the tariff revision, he had less aid than the present-day Minister of Customs, who is well fortified with the comprehensive report of a Departmental Committee which has thoroughly investigated the conditions of New 'Zealand industries. This proceeding suggests that the Government will adopt a policy of increased protection where local industry can benefit. With the development of cheap hydro-electric power there is undoubtedly a chance to develop the secondary industries, especially those which will utilise the Dominion's products as their raw material, but it is to be hoped that the well-organised protectionist element will not be allowed to go too far under the impression that New Zealand can speedily become a manufacturing country.

The World's Housing Shortage.

It was suggested to the Government by the Labour deputation already referred to that intending immigrants should be told the truth about New Zealand s housing shortage and the extent of unemployment. We heartily concur, but we do not believe that the truth would stop one Britisher from emigrating. Conditions could hardly be worse than they are in Britain to-day, both in regard to housing and employment. Prior to the war, about 80,000 dwellings for working men were built annually in Britain, at a cost enabling them to be let at an average rent of ten shillings weekly. Hardly a house was built during the war, and bv the end of 1018 the shortage of dwellings in Britain totalled between 300,000 and 400,000, to say nothing of the thousands of so-called houses which are only allowed to remain in use because their condemnation means turning the tenants into the street, with no chance of obtaining a roof elsewhere. Canada is experiencing the same difficulty of shortage due to the leeway during the war. In Winnipeg: during two pre-war years, 3,392 houses were built, but the sum total during the whole war period was only 258 new houses. We are so near to Australia that the details of the shortage in its principal cities are well known. The United States figures on the question show that whereas the prewar increase in the number of dwellings averaged between 350,000 and 400,000, only 70,000 new houses were built in T9TQ. It is estimated that the nation requires a million and a quarter .'new homes. In the face of these figures, it is evident that New Zealand's housing shortage is far from being exceptional, and that the position is not likely to

deter intending immigrants. Once conditions become sufficiently normal in New Zealand to warrant the resumption of much-needed immigration oh a reasonable scale, a selection of artisans by the High Commissioner will help us to overcome the problem, which is one of the most important in relation to the national life.

The Arbitration Court.

The resignation of the workers' representative on the Arbitration Court owing to the reduction in shearers' wages awarded by a majority of the Court, despite the stabilisation agreement made last May, has raised the big question whether the arbitration system is sufficiently successful to be maintained. At first, it seemed as if the trade unions were aiming at making the Court ineffective by refusing to nominate a successor to Mr. McCullough, but this was only a passing phase. More consideration has evidently satisfied the men's leaders that it would be a doubtful gain to get rid of the Court during a very difficult and dangerous economic era. Mr. McCullough held a view of the stabilisation agreement which his colleagues on the Court contend was never intended, as they expressly mentioned that exceptional conditions might warrant reconsideration of an agreement, which otherwise would stand until May, 1922. The majority of the Court hold that the wool producers are in an exceptional position, which involves the economic stability of their operations. Like many others, they are working on a falling market. If the Arbitration Court was done away with, some method of settlement of trade disputes e'quallv well backed bv Statute should be substituted, otherwise on a falling market the Dominion would be involved in an endless series of industrial disturbances, big and little. The Wages Board method, successfully adopted in the settlement of a dispute between the railwaymen and th~ Railway Department, seems a fair arrangement. The parties are directly represented at a round-table conference, presided over by an independent chairman, selected by mutual agreement. Special care has to be taken over the appointment of the chairman because his decision, in the event of a disagreement, carries great weight. This system was tried with the Tudge of the Arbitration Court as chairman, but did not satisfy the railwaymen. They were, however, more content when a business man of wide experience controlled a subsequent meeting of the Board, and the agreement , then arrived at is working satis factorilv to-day. Possibly the Wages Board system could be conducted in New Zealand as well as the Arbitration Court with a lawyer at its head. Whatever the system, the results should have the force of law, otherwise c"t-tbroat competition between individual workers, and bv employers capable of making a hard bargain with their employees, would add to the situation 3 series of troubles from which we have been free for many years.