CASH RESOURCES

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 233, 30 June 1939, Page 10

CASH RESOURCES

Depletion Criticized By

Mr. Hamilton

LABOUR’S FINANCIAL POLICY Restrictions On Imports The Government’s financial policy was criticized by the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Hamilton, when opening the Imprest Supply Bill debate in the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon. He said that after three years of a Labour Government in office every section of the community was disturbed and concerned in the trend of events. The people of New Zealand were today experiencing the full consequences of Labour legislation.

“Because of the Labour Government’s administration there is nothing but confusion and trouble in this country today,” said Mr. Hamilton. “If what has been revealed since the election had come to light before it there might have been a different story, and I am not complaining that we did not win the election. (Government laughter.) Had the electors known before they voted all they know today they might have expressed their opinion differently.” The Minister of Finance, said Mr. Hamilton, had gone to London on a very , serious mission. The Government' should have had an abundance of money without having to go cap in hand to other people and ask for help. During the Government’s past thrdc years of office export values had reached record figures, averaging £60,000,000 a year. Any Government unable to manage New Zealand successfully on the money that had been available should vacate office and let someone capable of running the country properly take charge. Country’s Cash Resources.

“Is New Zealand bankrupt today ?’ asked Mr. Hamilton. “How are the country’s cash supplies, and have the Government departments and the Treasury got plenty? Why is it that the country is so hard up? New Zealand's cash resources appear to be depleted, both here and abroad. Our sterling funds are now almost down to a vanishing point, and I question if we have enough money overseas today to pay one year’s interest bill. That is a serious plight for the country to be in, and on top of that the Government has strained the resources of the Reserve Bank. “Members of the Government used to talk one time about the use of the public credit, but they appear to have given up that argument. The Prime Minister has said that the country would not be short of cash, but the depletion •of cash resources must be an embarrassment to him. I wonder how much capital has been hunted out of this country by the talk of members of the Government.”

Mr. O’Brien (Government, Westland) : Sneaked out.

Refinancing Of Loans.

“New Zealand has now come to the first 100 years of its existence and should be able to stand on its own feet,” said Mr. Hamilton. “When loans are being refinanced it should at least be possible to pay something off. This country should not want to lean too heavily on London today.” Mr. Thorn (Government, Thames) : What about the Turks. Mr. O’Brien: What about Rumania? Mr. Hamilton said the rate of interest was up an additional J per cent, since Parliament last met. The Government had had to borrow internally to carry on. Withdrawals from the savings banks must be causing the Government some concern. Some members of the Government would be quite happy if the financial system were to break down. Mr. Thorn: Name them.

Mr. Hamilton: The I honourable gentleman can name them quite well. Businesses Wiped Out.

Discussing the import restrictions, Mr. Hamilton said he wondered if they were to be temporary or permanent. The Millister of Finance had stated that they were to be temporary, but the Prime Minister had made (he statement that they wore part of the Government's policy and to be permanent. “How can people be expected to trade under circumstances such as these?” asked Mr. Hamilton. “The restrictions wiped out businesses overnight without any consideration or compensation. Such interference has never been experienced in any British country in history, and we are beginning to realize now what British freedom and liberty means. When our liberty has been curtailed we begin to realize the necessity for defending the freedom we have previously enjoyed throughout the history of this country. “We have lost our good name and seriously disturbed our goodwill iu Great Britain. Wo have no right to ask to be allowed to sell all our produce in the British market and at the same time tell Britain what she can sell here. We cannot have one-way trade.”

Minister’s Rejoinder.

“The Leader of the Opposition reminds me of a . cheerful and enterprising undertaker surveying the corpse,” said the Minister of Education, Mr. Fraser. “For years one could not have described him as one of the brightest or most cheerful members of the House, but now he is happy because he finds gloom and depression everywhere.”

The Leader of the Opposition, said Mr. Fraser, was trying to see in recent events an avalanche of political disaster for the Government. Mr. Hamilton had shown his worth as a prophet when he forecast that the‘result of the internal loan would be no good. The result was very good indeed.

The basis of Mr. Hamilton’s criticism seemed to be that the Government had so mismanaged the affairs of the country that everybody was worse olf, but the people knew that their standard of living was higher and their purchasing power greater now, though some small sections might not be as well off. The Opposition should come out and say clearly where it would start on its campaign of reducing costs. Would it, for instance, reduce wages, or expenditure on schools, or on social security ? Mr. Hamilton had said that money had been squandered, but could he show where it had been squandered? The word was probably only a looseness of language. One true statement of Mr. Hamilton's was that under this Government, the people were beginning to learn the true meaning of British liberty.

“I sit amazed today to hear the boasts of this alleged nest-egg,” said

the Minister of Industries and Commerce, Mr. Sullivan. H<s said that when nearly 160,000 New Zealanders were in a state of semi-starvation, there was £47,000,000 stacking up in London, money that could have been made available in the Dominion to relieve the misery suffered by thousands of people during the depression. The Leader of the Opposition had said that the Government should be ashamed, but the Minister felt that the Opposition, the successors of the Coalition Government of three and a half years ago, had reason to be thoroughly ashamed for there being so much suffering among the people at the time when there was such a vast sum in London.

“The Opposition is so shameless that instead of feeling any remorse it throws out its chest and wants to know what we have done with it,” Mr. Sullivan said.

Mr. Polson (Opposition, Stratford) : Well, what did you do with it? The Minister: We restored the food, nutriment and clothing to the men, women and children of this country. We raised the standard of living and put the people back to work, those whom the Opposition sacked from the railways and the public works. We put them back to work and restored their wages. ’This, of course, had its effect on the Loudon funds because these people had to build up their homes. The Minister also said that the shrinkage of the London funds was dominantly accounted for by the Government restoring people their work and wages. He would say quite definitely with a firm conviction of the truth that there were more people satisfied, more people prosperous and more people doing well in New Zealand at present than ever before in the history of the country. Grave Difficulties. “New Zealand is confronted with grave difficulties in a prosperous world,” said Mr. Polson (Opposition, Stratford). "Members of the Government do not even attempt to deny these difficulties.” Expenditure by the Government in the last three years had been astronomical, said Mr. Polson. 'Sterling exchange to a total of £47,000,000 had been spent, £20,000,000 was borrowed from the Reserve Bank, the currency was inflated by £9,000,000, and £19,000,000 was borrowed internally. “The question that the country and the Opposition are asking is what is the Government going to do about this position,” he said. New Zealand was now asking Great Britain to give it a chance to meet its obligations, but no country had ever had a better chance to meet obligations. It was a most undignified position. The country was also entitled to know what policy actuated the Government. Was it the announced policy of 1935 that saving was not necessary, or was it the new policy of recommending saving for future contingencies. The Prime Minister was a nonsaver, but the Minister of Finance had recently apparently joined the savers. It was entirely unnecessary for Mr. Nash to announce in London that New Zealand would meet its obligations, said Mr. Polson. Surely that went without saying, or was it an attempt by Labour to assume a virtue? It appeared from recent statements that it was patriotic of England to lend money to New Zealand, but unpatriotic to ask for it back. Mil Polson said that tie was as anxious as anybody to see Mr. Nash succeed in his mission, but he thought that the task would be difficult in view of the import regulations recently imposed.

The position of the primary producer was dangerous, said Mr. Polson. He quoted figures showing that there had been declines in the production of dairy produce, wool and wheat, and said that a large area of land had gone out of production. “High costs and low prices are telling their tale,” he said. “If this sort of thing continues the Government will get its collective farms without difficulty. Perhaps that is the object. There are only three possibilities—lower costs, higher prices or bankruptcy.”