N.Z.’s problem ‘moral, not economic’

Press, 7 July 1977, Page 9

N.Z.’s problem ‘moral, not economic’

New Zealand was faced by a moral or Christian problem rather than an economic or financial problem, Mr J. P. Kennedy. the editor of the “New Zealand Tablet,” said at Lincoln College. He was giving the Sidney Freeman address at the opening of the fiftieth anniversary conference of the New Zealand Federation of Young Farmer's Clubs. Mr Freeman was the federation’s first Dominion organising secretary.

Mr Kennedy praised the attitudes of fanners but criticised other sectors of the community.

The simple fact is that we are developing a national mentality in which almost every group in the nation wants a larger and larger slice of the money cake and yet is prepared to put less and less effort into the baking of that cake,” he said.

“In fact, many peoplr could not even list the in gradients that go inD making the cake.

"We are constaniy being told that this is in economic problem and are led to believe that the Government, by asserted fiscal policies, will eventually control it. I be; to differ. I believe it 5 a moral or Christian problem, and that until ttis is realised the problen will remain with us, and it will get worse and it will produce tensions which could tear the faaric of our society to shreis.

“It is a moral problem, because at the hart of it is a man’s reationship with his God and his fellow’s, and whetier he is prepared to give the other guy a fair go or instead seek to grab ill he can, irrespective of what that

does to fhe other. It is basically a question of whether an individual or group is selfish or unselfish ..

Thereare few groups in New Zealand which showed unselfish attitudes, he said A good case could be ma<e that farming was,

perhap, the only sector with ; sense of moral pura pose and a recognition that sacrifices had to be made.

Hi gave an instance to suptort this contention. A few weeks ago, he said, he hat opened the annual coiference of the Otago pnvince of Federated Ftrmers. Two out of the a ray of remits for the conference struck him

jtrongly, he said. The «Vaitahuna and Taieri □ranches called for the payment of interest on the S26M of farmers’ funds held in wool retention accounts after being skimmed off from their gross proceeds for wool sold in the past season. The Waitahuna remit had “a telling little note which said that this money, which had been appropriated for the benefit of the New Zealand economy, should not lose its purchasing power due to inflation.” “That sentence sums up a lot of what is wrong with this country,” Mr Kennedy said. “Here is a group, whose money has been put aside, whether they like it or not, and all they do is to make the very reasonable demand that some interest ought to be paid on it to offset the ravages of inflation. “The Taieri remit suggested the ruling rate of interest on Government stock should be paid. And the point is worth making that that in itself is sign-

ificant, since the rate is about half the rate of inflation. So they were going to lose something anyway. But — and this is the key— they did not begrudge it if it would help the country. “I put it to you that there is a lot of unselfishness in that position, and that that is something rare and precious in New Zealand today. “I wonder what the response would be if Mr Muldoon, or Peter Gordon, were to tell Sir Thomas Skinner of the F.0.L., or Mr Reddish of the C. 5.5.0., or Bill Andersen of the drivers’ union, or Mr Devlin and his $3OO a week boilermakers, or the manufacturers or chamber of commerce, ‘Look chaps, you can have a wage or profits rise, but we are going to stick it in a national fund that cannot be touched for so many years and we are not going to pay you any interest.’ “Come to think of it, it is ironical that as the Otago famers were mildly suggesting the payment of some interest on that S26M, the Government was paying out an equivalent in back-pay to our vast army of civil servants — money, incidentally, which would not yield a skerrick in production. And that S26M is only two thirds of what the Government, in effect, recently wrote off on television and radio . . .

“I am arguing that when this kind of thing can not only happen but is taken for granted, then we have become a very sick country. I am insisting that we have become infected with the early symptoms of the so-called British disease, which has almost brought Britain to her knees . . .

“God knows, but you people have experienced enough of the kicking and screaming that shuts down freezing works, bars your produce from markets at the peak of the season and sends transport costs soaring into the realms of fantasy. And yet a few

days ago Federated Farmers offered the olive branch to the unions in a bid for better industrial relations. That was a statesmanlike gesture — one that showed a basic, deeply ingrained self-dis-cipline that other sectors of the community could well ponder. My only criticism of it is that the third party in all this — the companies — were not singled out too, because they must bear a considerable share of the blame for much that has hap-

pened. “I put it to you that we cannot escape the fact that New Zealand today is engaged in a struggle just as desperate as any war. That it is economical and moral, rather than military, makes no difference. The affluent way of life, which we have built, is now at stake . . .”