CONFIDENCE IN N.Z.’s FUTURE

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31349, 20 April 1967, Page 1

CONFIDENCE IN N.Z.’s FUTURE

Mr Muldoon Looks To Agriculture

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, April 19.

The Minister of Finance (Mr Muldoon) in a speech to the Associated Chambers of Commerce in Invercargill tonight said he had “unbounded confi* dence” in the future of New Zealand.

“While it is true that our manufacturing industries give depth to the economy and provide employment for our people, I believe that in my time our wealth will originate from the land,” Mr Muldoon told the meeting.

“We cannot neglect our manufacturing industries, and indeed the proportion of our economy devoted to or affected by manufacturing is such that it inevitably looms large in Government thinking.

“We come back, nevertheless, to agriculture as the ultimate key, even though diversification may be necessary, in the light of changing circumstances, to develop fully the potential of our land and climate.”

Later Mr Muldoon said the present Government’s major achievement in the economic field, in his view, was the rapid increase in capital investment, particularly in the agricultural field, which had taken place in the last six years. The Minister said the centre of the stage must be held by agricultural development and the fact that this year, “we are not only ahead of the targets but pulling further ahead each year. Good Production “We are through the production barrier, and our problems in the immediate future will tend to revolve around marketing," he said. “The pressures generated by New Zealand’s economic policy have tended to concentrate in the field of the balance of payments. “In general, prices, employment, economic vigour, and labour relations have not been unduly troublesome, but the balance of payments has been the ultimate focal point of our economic pressures.” Two Situations Mr Muldoon said the following two situations emerged “The long-term consideration

of rapid growth being tapered off slightly gave no cause for alarm. “The short-term problems arising from this year’s wool season necessitate immediate action, which has been taken and which

will continue.”

He said that in each case he looked on this operation as similar to driving a car, not driving a nail. “I mean that we must put firm but gentle pressures on the brake or accelerator as the occasion demands, watching carefully for the road signs and the unpredictable actions of others, and steering around obstacles,” he explained. “It is not a matter of two or three solid bangs and the job is done and can’t be altered,” said Mr Muldoon.