WITNESS PRAISED

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27705, 8 July 1955, Page 12

WITNESS PRAISED

Farmhand’s Evidence To Commission “SINCERE AND ORIGINAL THOUGHT” (New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, July 7. A 30-year-old Dargaville farmhand, Mr Norman Wordsworth, who said he knew nothing about economics and had never read a book on the subject, was I today congratulated by the Monetary) Commission for sincere and original thought. Making submissions to the commission. Mr Wordsworth said he had had two years’ secondary education, worked 48 to oO hours a week farming and farm contracting, and thought out his ideas at night. At the luncheon adjournment, several members of the commission went over for a handshake, and Mr A. McGregor. expert assisting the commission, offered him a book, “The Outline of Money.” Mr Wordsworth proposed that the Treasury be combined with the Reserve Bank and placed beyond political control, that a stabilisation scale be fixed, and that the community work longer for no extra pay. Explaining his scheme with detailed examples, he said that the new bank would have the • sole right to create the credit issued by trading banks relating it to production needs. The bank would be controlled by a board appointed by the GovernorGeneral. A Legislative Council would be formed to act as a brake on the government. Any bills that had been rejected would go to the people for a vote.

The bank would keep the stabilisation scale, which, as the bank was nonpolitical, would be beyond government control.

Debts would be repaid on the basis on which they were paid before Christ —they would be related to average values of goods, and the amount to be repaid might rise or fall. Taxes would be similarly based. Finally, everyone would work an additional eight hours a week for no extra pay, thus boosting production and cutting costs. He did not believe unemployment would result, as the demand would rise.

This last suggestion several members of the commissio'n found refreshing.

You re the only one to appear who has suggested we should work our way to prosperity,” said Mr G. G. G. ™ a t s °n, a member of the commission.