prices were revised from time to time. In the case of frozen meat advances had been made since June 1918 to the extent f 75% of the value after the meat has been in store six weeks. In the case of butter and cheese 90% of the value was advanced on any remaining in store for fourteen days before shipment. Half of the profits arising from the sale of butter in the United Kingdom was returnable to the producers. The price paid by the Imperial Government for creamery butter, first-grade, was 1575. per cwt. in 1917-8 and i8is. in 1918-20. First-grade cheese was purchased at 7Jd. per Ib. in 1915-6; 9id. in 1916-7; icd. in 1917-8; and lofd. in 1918-20. By various extensions most of these purchases were continued till the end of July
1920, but the contract for butter did not lapse till March 31
1921. The total amount paid to the producers of the Dominion by the Imperial Government down to the end of the month which covered the Armistice (Nov. 30 1918) was 74,658,816. By March 31 1921 the total was 156,022,0x35, the principal items being: wool 60,377,260; frozen meat 53,39,535; cheese 21,158,968; butter 16,283,650.
Through the generosity, regularity and promptitude of these payments the period of the war, which must otherwise have been one of financial stress or even disaster for the Dominion, became " an era of guaranteed prosperity "; and it is unfortunate that the arrangement has closed in circumstances which have tended to blind the producers and the people to the extent of their obligation.
The sudden reverse of fortune which the world-wide depres- sion of 1920-1 brought upon the farmers of the Dominion was aggravated by the congestion of produce held for the Imperial Government in the ports of the Dominion and by the holding of wool, mostly in the United Kingdom, to the value of about 22,000,000, until it became a drug on the market, and the responsible authorities were severely criticized in consequence. But when the trouble has passed the Dominion's indebtedness to the mother country for the absolute security and the unique prosperity which it enjoyed during the war will stand out once more in true perspective.
War Pensions and Repatriation. The first War Pensions Act was passed in 1915. By this and various amending measures the weekly pension in case of death ranges from 303. for the widow of a private to 3 los. for the widow of a brigadier- general or major-general, with the addition, if there are any children, of ics. payable to the widow, regardless of rank, and los. for each child. In the case of disablement the maximum weekly pension is 2 for a private, i for his wife and los. for each child. For a brigadier-general or major-general the max- imum is 3 55. with i i2s. 6d. for the wife and 103. for each child. The number of war pensions in force on March 31 1920 was 34,571 (24,661 temporary, 9,910 permanent), of the gross annual value of 1,869,365.'
By a series of Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Acts (1915-8) liberal provision was also made for the settlement of discharged soldiers on the land or for financing them in the purchase of houses in the towns. A Repatriation Department was also established early in 1919 " for the purpose of helping every discharged soldier requiring assistance to secure for himself a position in the community at least as good as that relinquished by him when he enlisted for war service." The help rendered has been under three main headings of employment, training, and financial assistance. Under the first head it was found that
received 1,620,000 for their share of the surplus profits, a large number of them, after the tide of their prosperity had already turned, displayed a due sense of their obligations to those who had made this wonderful result possible. Under a scheme initiated by Mr. E. Newman, M.P., himself a sheep-farmer, 214,209 (less income-tax amounting to 31,340) was set aside for the benefit of seamen of the navy and mercantile marine disabled during the war and the dependents of those who had lost their lives.
1 On the same date there were 19,993 old-age pensions in force and 3,444 widows' pensions. The expenditure on the former during the year 1919-20 was 732,968, representing a cost of I2s. 6d. per head as against 73. 7d. in 1913-4. The normal amount of an old-age pension is now 39 per annum. The expenditure on widows' pen- sions in 1919-20 was 136,815.
only about 25% of the discharged soldiers desired help from the Government. By March 20 1921 the Department had in the first twenty-five months of its operations dealt with 50,181 cases. Suitable employment had been found for 22,902 dis- charged soldiers; vocational training with sustenance or sub- sidy had been arranged for 5,584 men; the after-care officers had dealt with 1,114 chest cases and 1,040 others. Loans for acquiring or establishing businesses had been granted to 5,516 applicants, and for the purchase of furniture, tools, etc., to 11,370 others, while financial assistance of other kinds had been given in 4,187 cases. The total of these advances was 1,801,883 against which instalments of 475,351 had been collected.
The total expenditure on repatriation to March 31 1921 was as follows:
Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Act : Advances for stock and purchase of houses and
private land 18,130,964
Land Settlements Act :
(a) Capital value of 293 estates, comprising 489,915
ac., purchased, subdivided and offered to soldiers 5,423,253
(b) Cost of 15 estates, comprising 40,511 ac., pur- chased and now being subdivided and prepared
for settlement 364,195
Repatriation Act :
Financial assistance for establishment of businesses, for purchase of furniture, tools, etc., and for sus- tenance, etc 1,801,883
25,720,295
The number of discharged soldiers thus settled on the land was 7,341; and 1,601 more had taken up leases of Crown land. The total area of their holdings was 2,872,574 acres. In addi- tion 9,200 were helped to purchase or erect town dwellings under provisions which authorize advances up to 1,150 for the purpose, making the total number of discharged soldiers enabled by the Department to acquire land 18,142.
The Repatriation Department has certainly been one of the most efficient and economical of the enterprises enforced by the war. The land settlement policy, on the other hand, has been too generous to be businesslike. The bounty of the State to its defenders has not been limited by the ordinary canons of prudent lending, and advances have sometimes been made up to the full value of the land. The " boom " prices of land, and especially of dairying and grazing land, during the period 1917-21 presented a serious obstacle to the scheme, nor had the utmost caution prevented a department which had had to make large purchases of land from aggravating the evil. The soldier who had bought at the prices then ruling and borrowed most of the purchase-money was faced with the project that he might be sorely tried if hard times continued.
Cost of Lining. As in other countries, one of the main charges against the Government was its failure to check the steady rise in the cost of living; yet New Zealand probably suffered as little from this world-wide malady or from the negligence of its Government as any other country. The Government relied chiefly on the Board of Trade, which was appointed in March 1916, under the Cost of Living Act 1915, to deal with the ques- tions covered by the title of the Act and to advise the Govern- ment generally on the development and protection of trade, industry and commerce. This Board fixed the prices of wheat, flour, bread, milk, groceries, timber and other articles from time to time; arranged in 1918 (in view of the expected local shortage) for the purchase by the Government of 4,000,000 bus. of wheat in Australia, for the guarantee to the Dominion farmers of a mini- mum price for their wheat, and subsequently for the purchase of the crop by the Government. It also devised a scheme in 1916 for fixing the price of butter at about is. 7d. perlb. through- out the war. The scheme was abandoned in the following year and the price fixed at is. gd. In 1917-8 the half -share of profits (37>9 1 9) from the sale of New Zealand butter in the United Kingdom, which, by arrangement with the Imperial Govern- ment, was returnable to the producers, and for the two following seasons a grant of 340,000 from the Consolidated Fund, were applied towards the equalization of prices as between factories
