506 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION GI. 



contributed to this end also. The prices of necessaries such as 

 meat, agricultural products, etc., have risen owing to increased 

 demand for such commodities ; whilst those of imported manu- 

 factures, as woven goods, etc., have not increased owing to greater 

 facility for largely increasing the output. Our great gold exports 

 have reacted on our trade, and necessitated paying increased gold 

 prices for goods imported, whilst, on the other hand, Australia, as a 

 whole, has earned increased prices for its wool, wheat, etc. 



The increased prices of land in Australia have also affected the 

 problem, and it is a question whether much land is not being 

 speculatively pushed up to too high a price, since if any general 

 over-production of food-stuffs, etc., now results, a glut may follow, 

 and world prices would at least be temporarily depressed, and growers 

 will have to face diminished returns from land for which high prices 

 have been paid. Commodities may obviously temporarily rise in 

 price in harmony with the enhanced amount of the gold production, 

 or else fall from extraneous causes, such as a temporary collapse of 

 credit, etc. Interest rates, too, and prices of stocks and securities 

 are affected by the profits now being made in agriculture and 

 commerce ; and even where business continues brisk, interest may 

 not rise although the gold supply increases. The natural tendency 

 would be for interest to rise in consequence, and for prices of first- 

 class stocks to fall — as witness consols. Further, the natural im- 

 provement in the standard of living, of education, etc., has probably 

 become a permanent feature of our day, and in view of this fact, 

 coupled with the influence of rising gold prices due to the several 

 factors indicated, some increase in fixed salaries as incomes of a 

 section of the community seems reasonable. Of course, with in- 

 creasing gold prices, debtors in general will find it easier to pay off 

 their obligations over a term, as the margin of profit on their 

 exported productions will increase, but to those with fixed incomes 

 this does not carry compensation. 



The fact that all Australasian Governments are requiring larger 

 revenues is another factor in the increased stress of modern social 

 conditions and environment. The needs of the State are greater 

 than before, as in the case of individuals, and taxation reduces the 

 purchasing power of the individual, which greater State expenditure 

 on government does not recoup to him. 



Should the increased production of gold continue at profitable 

 prices as at present, it has been estimated that the annual produc- 

 tion will reach £200,000,000 by 1920 ; and, if so, prices of commo- 

 dities must go up as the exchange value of the money unit declines. 

 There is, of course, the possibility of a cycle of bad seasons occurring 

 in some parts of the world, or a period of wide over-speculation, 

 the effects of which might be felt in the world's business and profits 

 causing an increase in the unemployed above the normal standard, 

 and a reduction of the purchasing power of the masses. In such 



