TIME NOT RIPE

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 8, 10 July 1934, Page 8

TIME NOT RIPE

FOR GENERAL ELECTION

RECOVERY INCOMPLETE

MR. FORBES'S CONTENTION

FRESH PROBLEMS AHEAD

(Special to the "Evening Post.")«

CHEVIOT, This Day. "We have been obliged to take step after step without precedent, and try experiments, though never without careful preliminary consideration. We may have made some mistakes, but the worst mistake would have been to have done nothing, allowing things to drift. Where New Zealand would have drifted I leave it to your imagination to picture," declared the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes) at his meeting at Cheviot last evening, when he reviewed the steps taken by the United and Coalition Governments to grapple with' the economic depression. ■ "But what is the reality?" continued Mr. Forbes. "Our export trade has continued to develop, and its volume has reached record proportions. Our financial credit, on the evidence of the stock exchanges alone, is at a high premium, and there have been readjustments which will enable us in due time to profit fully from improved world conditions. VlTAXPAYER'S LOAD. "Some of our measures have appeared harsh to some sections, and the taxpayer has carried a heavy load, which must be lightened the instant such a course is safe and prudent. Successive Budget deficits prove that .wo have not over-taxed, but relieved tho load as much'as possible'by pledging the future. "While we havo reached a 'breathing space' when it is possible to take stock before facing the fresh problems now emerging for our attention, it is too early to pass final judgment on our measures. It has been impossible and unfair to the taxpayer—to attempt an annual Budgetary outlook, for tho conditions demand a longer view. "So^ too, with our legislation—more time is needed to make a fair assessment of its value in results. One section of the community clamours for a, General Election this year—tho hope of the 'outs' who took no risks during times of crisis, to become the 'ins. "But it- is due to those members of the' House who loyally supported the Government, in its most unpleasant but necessary duties that they should not be called upon to accept any premature verdict of their constituents before the people have had a fair opportunity of realising what has been done, and how the legislation has worked out. "When the proper time arrives to submit their record to the Dominion they should be able to prove that the sacrifices which the people have had to make have been for the general t good, that the burden has been.placed where it was best able to be borne— though carried with difficulty we admit —and that no section escaped unless U was in the unhappy position of having to accept relief and assistance from the community as a whole. "The proper time to take the verdict has not arrived, for it cannot be too often stressed that measures of relief and rehabilitation aie not complete, and that fresh problems face the Government. "The outstanding duties " which immediately have to be undertaken are: Relief of unemployment, including the development of industries with the object of permanent absorption of workers. . Assistance to the primary producers, particularly in the direction of securing improvement in the quality of New Zealand's export pro^ ducts, which will in the future have to face even keener competition, particularly under threatened conditions of restricted, import into our chief market. Continued economy in expenditure, and planned Budgetary methods so as to keep current taxation down to the lowest safe and prudent point, giving relief at the earliest possible moment., . v "The steps taken by tho Government to get the Dominion on to the rails again. have been drastic ones, and they have called for great sacrifices from our people. The cheerful way in which these have been borne, and are still being borno, is in accordance with true British • characteristics, and has made tho difficult task of the Government lighter on that account. The Old Country has shown the way. Her load has been a heavy one both for the people and the Government, but today, with a surplus in tho public accounts and a marked improvement in trade conditions, they are reaping their reward. There is every sign of a similar recovery here. Our estimated Budgetary deficit of £2,000,000 ; has been reduced to £700,000, and the improvement is continuing"; and if nothing unforeseen happens we can look for the Teturn of reasonably prosperous conditions. • • NO SHORT CUTS. "If has been proved both in the Old Country and in New Zealand that there are no. short cuts-to prosperity. Many countries have attempted these to escape the effects of the depression, but where are they today? Their people have suffered hardship to a degree that no British people have known. Misled by glittering promises of a paper-made prosperity, they found to their sorrow that they had been chasing shadows, and that real prosperity was further off than ever. "Many quack remedies for financial ills are being advocated in New Zealand today, but I have every confidence that our people will not bo led asfray by them—they have sufficient common sense not to allow their savings to be risked in fantastic and untried schemes. PROBLEMS TO SOLVE. ; " We still have problems to solve. The limiting of the market for our produce overseas, and the continued low price of our dairy produce are subjects of great concern to the Government, and our endeavours will be directed to maintain and extend the opportunities that are open to us today. We may be forced by circumstances over which we have no control to face a curtailment of exports, and if that should happen, then our every effort will have to be directed to raising the standard of quality of our exported produce, and thus compensate by better prices for any restriction in volume that we may have to accept. However, as in tho past experience of the Government, we will meet our difficulties as we have done before, and honestly and diligently strive to do the best for the welfare of our people."

During the absence of Mr. G. 11. Mackley, General Manager of the NewZealand Railways, in Australia at the conference of the Australian and New Zealand Eailway Commissioners, Mr. E. Casey will be Acting General Manager.