‘Human factor’ omitted

Press, 1 December 1978, Page 3

‘Human factor’ omitted

The Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) said yesterday that the chief accountant of the Bank of New Zealand (Mr L. C. Bayliss) had recently made representations to the. Governm nt which went beyond what was possible with practical policy. \ The Press Association says that Mr Muldoon was asked at a press conference to comment on an • assertion by Mr Bayliss that New Zealand’s low productivity would have serious social and economic implications. Mr Muldoon said that theoretically Mr Bayliss’s representations might be . very good, but they omit- . ted the human factor. “That has to be taken ! into account in deciding economic policy,” he said. “What Mr Bayliss says is correct — in so far as it ! goes. “But his addresses have been in a very limited area and there is much more to our economic problems than he ■ has i covered.” i

Mr Muldoon said that in Mr Bayliss’s terms the economy might well be improved by permitting goods into New Zealand cheaply from low-wage countries. “But I doubt whether it would be socially acceptable,” Mr Muldoon said. “Productivity could also be increased by having skilled workers -work more

overtime rather than , employ more people out of the pool of unemployed. I doubt whether ' that would finally be more i acceptable either,” he said. He disagreed with Mr Bayliss’s implication that , the New Zealand currency was over-vahjed. “We are under no pressure for devaluation,” Mr Muldoon said.