The Dominion TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1941. NATIONAL ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 129, 25 February 1941, Page 6

The Dominion TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1941. NATIONAL ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION

Every thoughtful person will agree with the Prime Minister's remark, in the course of a statement published yestei day, Jiat “organization, co-operation and goodwill among all tire people aie necessary to enable New Zealand to meet economic difficulties which may lie ahead. It is very obvious that changing war conditions ate likely to call for all manner of adjustment; and large-scale economic adjustment demands a united effort by all sections—by every brancn of productive industry, by consumers as well as by manufacture!o, bv buyers and sellers, by workers and employers, by State eiiteiprise as well as by private enterprise. The changes made must be balanced changes. Even should we fail to emerge from our trials with (in Mr. Fraser’s words) our “economic and social standards intact or recoverable.” we should, and must, reorganize at w latevei economic level circumstances may dictate. As Mr. J. U. Coates pointed out in Auckland a few days ago we cannot maintain our standards and at the same time maintain, or increase, our war elloil. ‘•We cannot do it (said Mr. Coates) and it is no good anyone trying to promise it. It means sacrifice and effort, and some of our earnings and savings going to the war effort.” The Prime Minister has suggested that he favours an economic council to survey and guide production and industry in a national way. he idea of such a council, provided it be fully representative, composed of competent men unfettered by any sectional prejudice or allegiances, and invested with the necessary authority, is to be commended. Not only might such a council co-ordinate this country’s industrial and productive effort in a more efficient, clear-cut manner, but in doing so it might also bring about the very welcome elimination (by incorporation) of the minor multitude of boards and councils which has sprung into confusing existence since the war began. A single, strong economic council with sufficient power to act and a sufficient!} wide order of reference could perform an invaluable service. But it must act, with full independence and authority, to the best interests of the country as a whole. A purely advisory body, added and linked to the existing list of sectional groups, would be of little use, Indeed, it might be worse than useless —an additional handicap to stiaightforward administration. In order to devise a means of economic co-operation the Government, according to Mr. Fraser, "will probably call a conference “similar to the Economic Stabilization Conference held in Septembci and October of last year, with a view to obtaining the support oi all concerned ” What would be the particular effect of this, aside from wasting much more time, and making inevitable another spate of discussion largely over ground already covered? Last yeai o conference did all that another national assembly of the same sort could effectively do. It served to demonstrate a general willingness to work together for the national good —and the same people, brought together again in the same way, could do little or nothing more than affirm that willingness. In addition, last year’s conference appointed a special committee which, after some days of intensive work, pi induced a report setting out the broad lines of a wartime economic policy and making certain recommendations. Is it now the Government’s idea that this should be discarded and the whole process of co-operation begun again? If not, then what new object is theie to be served by bringing producers, industrialists, employers, workers and economists back again to Wellington. There can surely be no doubt whatever about the preparedness of every thinking and responsible section of the community to accept an economic leadership and a system of co-ordination which is equitable, authoritative and impartial. It does not require another conference to ascertain this. What is required is simply a courageous decision by the Government to set aside all sectional considerations and call upon the services of a panel of practical and experienced men who are equipped to formulate and carry out a plan of economic co-operation. The formalities and preliminaries of another national conference can well be dispensed with.