The Press THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 1950. Speech from the Throne

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26151, 29 June 1950, Page 4

The Press THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 1950. Speech from the Throne

Mainly because the Government has kept the public informed of its progress in working out measures to implement its policy, the Speech from the Throne at the opening of Parliament yesterday threw little new light on the legislative programme for the new Government’s first session. The National Party’s election policy is still fresh in the minds of the electorate; and the Government, in little more than six months, has already done much to make effective the policy wliich was endorsed by a clear majority of the electors. Some 40 bills are ready or nearly ready for presentation to Parliament; and if the Government, by this pre-sessional diligence, succeeds in spreading the legislative work more evenly over the session,! and thus avoids the usual end-of-' session rush, it will have earned the gratitude % of Parliament and the public. Rightly, the Speech emphasised the Government’s concern to put the finances of the country on the soundest possible footing and its belief that one of the most important means to this end is to curb inflation. The substantial reduction of the subsidies bill and the successful flotation of the £20.000,000 development loan have been important elements in the Government’s financial policy; and the assurance that the capital works programme will be financed without resort to Reserve Bank credit is additionally encouraging because it suggests that the Government is following and will continue to follow a very cautious policy on public works. Here, obviously, lies the best hope of a substantial reduction of Government spending and of real relief from the heavy burden of taxation.

“Major” relief, as his Excellency indicated, will not be given this year, although it is proposed to make some “ adjustments ”, Rightly again, the Speech emphasised the Government’s concern to maintain and improve production and productivity, especially in the primary industries, and its determination to strike away all the wartime and post-war controls that can safely be dispensed with. Better still, an attack on a system of control which pre-dated the war was announced in the Speech. As a “ first step ”, import restrictions will be removed from a wide range of goods; and it can be taken for granted that restrictions on other classes of goods will be relaxed as soon and as fully as possible. Because the Government’s hopes in this direction must rest largely upon an improvement in the terms of overseas trade, it has good reason to attach great importance to the present negotiations in London on the prices for New Zealand exports of meat and dairy produce. Nevertheless, many would have preferred to see a qualification added to his Excellency’s affirmation of the Government’s desire “to do everything “ possible to promote and secure “ favourable prices for exports. ...” It is by no means certain that the country’s best interests will be served by pressing Britain for much higher prices now. An explicit recognition of this by the Government would be the more welcome because some farmers and some farmers’ organisations have been inclined to abandon the policy of restraint.

In its references to external affairs, the Speech usefully emphasised the Government’s support of the programmes and principles of the United Nations, while recording its discouragement over the failure of the organisation to resolve the major issues that divide the Great Powers. It could, even more usefully, have emphasised the importance of making every possible effort to make the United Nations work as it was intended to work—at least while there is no other effective medium of international conciliation and mediation in sight. Similarlv, the Speech affirmed the Government’s—and, indeed, New Zealand’s —faith in the destiny of the British Commonwealth and Empire as a force for world peace and stability, without showing that the Government sees dearly where such a destiny must logically lead. For the Commonwealth is no longer selfsufficient, any more than one member of it is self-sufficient. Great Britain, the heart and head of this living organism, must play a great and leading part in other associations of nations, whether it be the Western Union or the Atlantic Pact community, or still wider fraternities. And the measure of Britain’s contribution to these associations will depend on the readiness of the Commonwealth to support her and to fortify her to play a significant part in them. Finally, the people of New Zealand will welcome sympathetically the reference in the Speech to the improved health of His Majesty, and will echo the hope that the King and Queen will be able to visit the Dominion in 1952. They will welcome also the news that Sir Bernard Freyberg’s term as Governor-General has been extended* for a year. And it need not be added that the appropriateness of Sir Bernard Freyberg still holding his high office during the Royal visit is not their only reason for pleasure.