The Dominion MONDAY, JULY 24, 1944. OUR PLACE IN WORLD PLANS

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 254, 24 July 1944, Page 4

The Dominion MONDAY, JULY 24, 1944. OUR PLACE IN WORLD PLANS

Many people will endorse the resolution, adopted at the confeience of the New Zealand Farmers Union, to the effect that the Dominion should not be committed ,to any international financial arrangements without adequate opportunity being given the people to discuss and criticize them. The attitude of the farmers apparently was largely influenced by the dependence of New Zealand on British markets for the disposal of the bulk of its surplus produce, the effect which these far-reaching proposals may have on the sterling area, and a desire to see that in any arrangement the Mother Country got a “fair go.” Those are matters of moment to the whole community and not solely to a section. It remains to be seen what the final drafts regarding both the International Monetary Fund and the proposed bank contain, but the original proposals left membership optional. They mentioned “member States” and, as very large sums, or credit responsibilities, would be involved the proposals would necessarily have to come before Parliament. British people, at Home and overseas, strongly desire that scope shall be left in any plan for the efficient functioning of the sterling area, because, as one leading journal put it, that is “no more incompatible with a good international system than the British Commonwealth of Nations is with an effective system of world order.” The final scheme provided for a transitional period (three years from its inception) for “the maintenance and adaptation by the members of the sterling area of the arrangements now in force between them, and the experts were agreed that the scheme was not intended, “when the obligation of free convertibility has been accepted, to interfere with the traditional ties and other arrangements between members of the sterling area and London.” The very magnitude of the proposals make it in every way desirable that they should be fully explained to, and freely discussed by, all sections of the community. The decisions, which must of course be made by Parliament, should reflect an informed public opinion, and it will be the duty of the proponents of the plans not only to explain how they will work but also to make clear what probable effects they will have on the existing system. These are not matters for conjecture. They concern organizations devised for certain specific purposes, and it should be possible for those who advocate New Zealand membership to prove exactly how they will operate and what effects they will have on our overseas trade. There can be no question of giving the Government a blank cheque in these transactions. This is not the purchase of an old coal-mine. They may vitally affect the well-being of the Dominion and must be judged chiefly, if indeed not solely, from that angle. The internationalists in the Ministry and in Parliament may have much to say about our dutv with respect to the devastated countries, but it may he that our best method of discharging it will be by making available the foodstuffs and raw materials they will so sorely need, leaving to the creditor nations the task of financing the transactions. The issues are such that they must be freely discussed and as freely criticized. There must be time to study all that may be involved, and it can be said at once that any prospect of any scheme making finance available for lavish expenditure overseas will not commend it in any xvay.