NATURAL WEALTH OF N.Z.

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22082, 3 May 1937, Page 8

NATURAL WEALTH OF N.Z.

LARGER POPULATION NEEDED LEGISLATION DESCRIBED AS EXTRAVAGANT * VIENNESE BANKER LOOKS AT THE DOMINION New Zealand’s surplus ,o£ natural wealth allows her a certain amount of extravagance, of which recent legislation is an example. This is the view of a r ®’ tired Viennese banker, Mr J. PPferry, who has been a close student of the Dominion’s economy and politics. Mr Perry, who is visiting the country for the first time, arrived in Christchurch on Saturday. Without an increase of population by immigration, however, Mr Perry considers that the Dominion can never make proper use of her natural wealth. With rising commodity prices and a continued excess of production over needs, the country will remain prosperous, but immigration remains a necessity. “New Zealand is important, not by the size qf her population now, but because of the importance she will have when her population increases,” said Mr Perry. “That is a prerequisite of the greatness of New Zealand. Millions could live and prosper where only 1,500,000 live today. New Zealand is like a nugget of gold weighing scwt, which a miner found but cannot lift himself. He may chip off portions of it, as New Zealand is doing at present, but to get the full value of bis happy discovery he must have help. “I came to New Zealand to find out how Socialism works in a free and rich country. Reading the legislation, everything looks more serious than it is in practice. The practical British mind has _ taken off many edges, and the legislation does not go to the extremes which one would imagine in reading it. The powers conferred are exercised with great discretion. ' “The situation in this country is quite unusual,” he went on. “The excess of your exports is sufficient to take care of the interest on your indebtedness, and unless you have to borrow again, the financial market of London is not so very important to you. So long as you keep the balance of trade sufficiently active to take care of your obligations abroad, and so long as the ability of the people to be taxed will take care of domestic indebtedness, you can go on with the present system. At present these conditions are fulfilled. Whether this will be so in the future I cannot judge.

“Luxury of Being Extravagant” “But you must never forget that this is a new country, with almost unlimited resources. It can permit itself the luxury ot being sometimes extravagant, as it is in its present legislation. Everything is set right by the new wealth which is constantly taken out of the soil. But here again I think that immigration is a necessity if the wealth of the country is to give the best results.” Mr Perry considers that it is safe to guarantee the prices of primary products when prices are rising, but is .doubtful of the results when prices are falling. ■ “Guaranteeing the price of any product of any country is feasible as long as prices are rising,” he said, “It remains to be seen what happens to the guaranteed prices when prices are dropping. It. might prove too heavy a strain on the taxpayers, who will have to make up the deficiency. "The standard of living is very high in New Zealand compared with that in countries on the Continent of Europe,” he continued. “The farmer here has all the amenities of life. The radio, , the telephone, and a motor-car to every five people in the country, show a standard of life much higher than in Europe. r The farmers are very well off. They eat meat three times a day. In Eastern Europe there are countries where the peasants eat meat only three times a year.”