PLAN TO GUARD PROSPERITY

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24866, 4 May 1946, Page 8

PLAN TO GUARD PROSPERITY

PARTY COOPERATION URGED FAREWELL MESSAGE BY MR LEFEAUX (P.A.) WELLINGTON, May 3. In the interests of every New Zealander he hoped political parties would hammer out a commonly acceptable plan to guard national prosperity, said Mr Leslie Lefeaux, the former governor of the Reserve Bank, in an interview yesterday before going aboard the Akaroa to-day to return to Great Britain. Mr Lefeaux said that the Reserve Bank, which he had come here 12 years ago to found, should have proved a tower of strength to New Zealand’s economy. Instead, it had been used to undermine the currency by means of gross inflation. The Dominion had to face post-w’ar economic issues calling for the co-operation of all, perhaps on the basis of the lucid and statesmanlike report recently submitted by Mr F. P. Walsh to the Federation of Labour. Party differences should be confined to matters of less vital importance to the people. Mr Lefeaux said he wanted to sound three particular notes of warning to the people. Briefly they were:

“(1) Beware of having too many people in unproductive occupations living on the rest. (2) Do not think people are rich merely because they have money in their pockets or in banks. Money is useless unless it can be employed to secure goods and services. (3) Do not spend too much on enjoyment and consumer goods. Set aside sufficient capital for future developments. Savings and capital are synonymous—they are both the seed and the corn for future harvests.”