CONSTITUTIONAL SOCIETY

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29232, 16 June 1960, Page 20

CONSTITUTIONAL SOCIETY

President’s Report To Annual Meeting (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, June 15. The present election year may be the most important in the history of the Constitutional Society, according to the president of the society (Mr J. Scott-Davidson) in a report to be presented at the fourth annual general meeting on Monday. He says that New Zealand has been dominated by bureauacy for so long that the authority of Parliament itself has been greatly weakened. Contrary to election promises, no effective measures have been taken to keep money and production in step, the report says. High taxation, along with lavish Government expenditure and unbalanced expansion of the money supply, has debased the currency and forced up the cost of living. “The immediate task of the society is to make people generally aware of the dangers arising through such policies and to org-anise-public opinion in demanding essential changes,” says Mr ScottDavidson. “Some realisation of these faults is beginning to dawn upon our political leaders, but it is doubtful if any political party is yet fully converted or if even the mass of people appreciate the dangers of the present situation,” he says. The society should not be regarded as an organisation established to perform a specified task in a few years and then to go out of existence.

“The need for such a society will be a continuing one as the factors leading to the present situation will always be a threat to democracy."