PROSPERITY’S PEAK

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 98, 20 January 1938, Page 10

PROSPERITY’S PEAK

Prime Minister’s Claim ALL RECORDS BROKEN Substantial Rise In Production “It can be fairly claimed that two years of Labour Government have brought New Zealand to the highest level of prosperity it has ever experienced,” declared the Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage, in an interview last evening. A stocktaking in the Dominion, just now, the Prime Minister said, showed that the people had resumed industrial and business activities this year in conditions of remarkable buoyancy.

“The official returns break all previous records; in fact, the latest Statistical Abstract giving the figures of production and general business last year is a record-smashing number.” Mr. Savage continued. “So far, little or nothing has been said about the results, but the people ought to know exactly wlyit is being done and how firm are the prospects for the continuance of prosperity. The chart has never been better. Big Rise in' Production. “For example, the Government Statistician says that the value of production last year was £136,000,000, representing an increase of 40 per cent, over two years,” Mr. Savage said. “This sum is £10,000.000 more than the previous record figure in the boom year of 1928-29. It follows that the gain in the value of production will be reflected this financial year in the national income figures, which are likely to be much higher than last year’s total, of £140,000,000. “An outstanding record was also achieved in factory production for the 1936-37 year. The value of production was just on £106,000,000. This amount is far ahead of the previous record of about £91,000,000, in 1929-1930. The details show that the .people are earning their increased wages. These also reached a record level last year, the amount, of factory wages being £18,383,000, as compared with £16,840,000 at the height of the boom eight years ago. “Employment in our factories has shown an increase of 21 per cent, in two years,” the Prime Minister said. “The number employed is over 96,000— this also being a record. The total wages paid in New Zealand within the past, two years have risen from over £67,000,000 to £94,000,000, an increase of 40 per cent. I Note Circulation Up. “The same buoyancy at record levels has been shown during the period in business activity %s emphasised by banking figures. Cheque transactions show an increase of 34 per cent, in two years, while the note circulation has increased by 41 per cent. "The people have had more money to spend and they have spent freely to the benefit, of business and the community generally,” the Prime Minister proceeded. "In other words, the policy of the Government in practice has established conditions which have made this record prosperity possible and are still maintaining it. All the returns show that the people are enjoying their prosperity, and that more people than ever before are sharing to a larger extent in the increased national income. If that were not so, it would be idle to talk of ‘better times.’ ”