‘Pipe dream' of Mr Skinner

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33215, 3 May 1973, Page 3

‘Pipe dream' of Mr Skinner

(New Zealand Press Association) NEW PLYMOUTH, May 2. The president of the Federation of Labour (Mr T. E. Skinner) should wake up to the realities of economic life, said the leader of the Social Credit League (Mr B. C. Beetham) today.

He was commenting on Mi Skinner’s address to th( F.O.L. conference in Welling ton yesterday. “It is a pipe dream for Mi Skinner . to imagine tha increases in productivity car be achieved simply bj improved working method: and more sophisticated co ordination of management capital and labour,” Mi Beetham said. The fundamental cause o: stagnant productivity wa: the inability of manu facturers and producers tc gain access to sufficiently cheap finance for capita formation. Productivity would no 1

increase until it was more profitable to invest in production than in usury and financial speculation, or j while the return for investment in production barely equalled or was less than the inflation rate, said Mr Beetham. MONOPOLY TREND Some companies, especi- ■ ally monopolies, were doing quite well, others were struggling, and many were going under, only to be absorbed by monopolies. “The whole process of stagnation is encouraging the rapid development of monopoly in New Zealand,” Mr Beetham said. “Mr Skinner appears either to be unaware of these crucial facts or to be acting as an apologist for the Labour Government, which so far has failed to grapple with the basic cause of stagnant productivity.”