The Press WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1971. Mr Muldoon returns

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32736, 13 October 1971, Page 16

The Press WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1971. Mr Muldoon returns

Much has been made of New Zealand’s decline from fourth place to fourteenth among the nations of the world in gross national product per head of population, an important measure of the standard of living. It is not to be assumed from this that productivity or living standards are declining in New Zealand; it is simply that the rate of growth has been slower here in the last three years than in some other countries. The Minister of Finance (Mr Muldoon) pointed out on his return from two weeks in the United States that economic statistics were not the only way to measure the health of a nation; the distribution of the wealth it produces and the quality of the environment it provides for its citizens may be more important than productivity. In these, New Zealand compares more than favourably with countries which stand higher on the economic scale. The features of life in the United States which disturbed Mr Muldoon drugs, slums, malnutrition, pollution, the noise and tensions of large cities are no new discovery. It will do no harm, however, for New Zealanders to be reminded again of the advantages they enjoy from living where they do; the reminder is all the more forceful when it comes from a man who has sometimes appeared to be firmly committed to development and economic efficiency. Economic progress comprehending a proper regard for environmental factors not easily measured in financial terms should, increasingly, be the concern of all New Zealanders.

Mr Muldoon’s mission included attending meetings of Commonwealth Finance Ministers, the International Monetary Fund, A.N.Z.U.S. Pact members, and the United Nations General Assembly. At the United Nations he made three important points in his address to the other 130 national delegations: New Zealand is strongly in favour of the admission of China but is equally concerned that the Government of Taiwan should not be excluded; this country is prepared to write off a proportion of the money owed to it by the United Nations to assist the world body in its financial difficulties; and New Zealand joins Peru and Fiji in expressing growing concern over French refusals to abandon nuclear testing in the Pacific. When he asked why France did not conduct the tests nearer home if the hazards were as slight as the French claimed, Mr Muldoon was making the strongest official protest yet made by this country concerning the tests.

Mr Muldoon has not been notable of late for any narrow interpretation of the concerns of his portfolio. In his excursion abroad into the realms of defence and foreign policy he appears to have performed ably. But in spite of his optimism on his return that internal inflation in New Zealand might be held to 8 per cent this year a figure which is still disturbingly high it is not yet clear that the spiral of wages and prices has been arrested. After his travels, Mr Muldoon should have plenty to do at home in the very near future.