"LIVE MORE SIMPLY."

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 228, 26 September 1930, Page 8

"LIVE MORE SIMPLY."

CURE OF ECONOMIC ILLS. e * BISHOP WILLIAMS' PLEA. d "EXTRAVAGANCE RAMPANT." a 1 (By.Telegraph.—Press Association.) t NAPIER, Thursday. 1 Extravagance, a mistaken view of the e standard of living and a gross abuse of 3 the system of credit, were ''given by Bishop Williams in an address at the opening of the Waiapu Diocesan Synod to-day as some of . the causes of the , problems affecting New Zealand. \ " Tlle simple explanation." said Bishop _ Williams, appears to be that the people i are not buying because they have not • the money, but wages are more than double what they were 50 years ago and the average income is far higher than it was. The money is there, but as a rule, it is being wrongly spent. The root of the evil lies in the prevalent neglect of thrift, a mistaken view of the standard of living and a gross abuse of the system of credit. These react upon one another and cannot be wholly dissociated. Credit, when properly safeguarded, is of great service in the development of business, but when used to push sales by the instalment system it becomes a serious j evil, a canker eating into the vitals of sound - finance. The plausible salesman persuades his victims to buy motor cars, giamophones, radio sets, furs, sewing machines and unnecessary furniture on the hire-purchase system, and the purchaser is saddled with instalments which are_ frequently still falling due after the articles have perished by use. "Standard of Pleasure." "Labour leaders have rightly been zealous for the maintenance of the standard of living at a satisfactory level, but an undue attention to this point has led to the creation of a false standard. -The standard of living is measured by the standard of comfort and this sooner or later becomes a standard of luxury and pleasure, with the result that nearly everyone is treating himself to pleasures and luxuries enjoyed by his neighbour; who has: a- higher income: than himself.-.<

"The trouble is that probably all of these have to be paid for in cash, whether by instalments or not, and there is" not then any money available for those necessaries of life with which alone the standard of living is concerned. Everyone is 'hard up,' and everyone is spending far more than is legitimate upon things which are quite unnecessary. "A scrutiny of the Government returns discloses the fact that we are spending millions a year upon motors and their upkeep, millions upon pictures and other forms of amusement, and millions upon tobacco. The figures given are generally those for wholesale prices. What the people pay is largely in. excess of this. Then we spend enormous sums upon gramophones, radio, beer and spirits, sweets and gambling. Hardly anyone can claim that he is not to blame under one or more of these headings.

Example of the French,

"Extravagance is rampant in the public and private expenditure of the country. . Thrift is almost unknown. The wage-earner is dissatisfied and continually, clamours for more wages, while the employer is resentful of this, knowing that so large a proportion is simply squandered and he lias real difficulty in meeting the demand owing to his -proportion of the foolish expenditure. "There is no need to embark upon a killjoy campaign. The French have no reputation for a lack of • gaiety and France felt more severely than any other country the devastation of the war, but the French are notoriously thrifty. They applied themselves energetically to the task of restoring their country, with the result, by the latest reports, that unemployment is unknown in France. It is quite open to us to do the same, and [ if we do not discipline ourselves we may have discipline thrust upon us by our creditors at home or abroad. "It is quite possible for us to live more simply, to forgo many of our luxuries, and, for our pleasures, to be prepared to' amuse ourselves instead of paying extravagantly for someone else to amuse us. This, of course, means self-denial, and it is here that the Church comes in. One of the first duties of the Christian is to deny himself and the Church has always urged upon her members that wise, restraint of all appetites and desires which constitutes the real virtue of temperance. - "The subject is not one which calls for action by synod, but it is one which all Church people ought to lay to heart."