POLICY CRITICISED

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 87, 9 October 1935, Page 12

POLICY CRITICISED

CAPITAL FOR .ELECTION

ME. COATES'S COMMENT

The view that it would cost £22,000,000 a yeav to give anything like full effect to the programme of the Democrat Party, apart from loan expenditure and financial assistance to private enterprise, was expressed by the Minister of Finance (the Kt. Hon. J. G. Coates) in a statement issued last evening.

"The Government," said Mr. Coates, "refused to stoop to the expedient of touting for votes by making such | ridiculously impossible promises, and will confine its policy to proposals which are economically practicable. I shall content myself with commenting on the proposals of the Democrats to increase employment. These fall into two categories—firstly, the develop-, ment of economical public works, and secondly, co-operation between the Government and private enterprise to stimulate employment in private industry. "In his recent statement in Auckland, Mr. Hislop listed types of public works which his party proposed to institute. He intends to set up a National Development' Council to consider these and other developmental proposals. This suggestion to set up another board is hardly consistent with Mr. Hislop's avowed 'antipathy to boards and commissions. I would point out, however, that there is nothing new in the proposal to continue public works and to investigate them on the basis of direct financial return or. indirect financial or social benefit. The present Government has always given careful attention to these considerations. PUBLIC WORKS PROGRAMME. "Further, an expert1 committee was set up some time ago for the purpose of recommending public works capable ofr immediate application, designed to relieve unemployment. A further function of the committee is to examine all proposed developmental works and make recommendations on which a long range programme can be based. This committee • has presented one report embodying recommendations to which effect has already been-given, and which will directly employ some 8000 men for the remainder of the financial year. Further reports will follow from time to time.. "The only differences between the Government's established policy and the proposals of Mr. Hislop are that the Government has refrained from settling up a totally unnecessary board and prefers a sound/ policy based on careful, expert investigation, to extravagant promises and fantastic estimates of possible results. The Government, has ■ also anticipated the proposal of Mrr Hislop to encourage employment in private industry. In. the Financial Statement I quoted figures which demonstrate conclusively the substantial improvements in economic conditions resulting from the Government's policy. In addition, the Govern-ment-has Always been willing to cooperate with approved groups in order to assist in the development of enterprises which appeared to show a reasonable prospect of success. "It is part of the declared policy of the Unemployment Board to cooperate in this way, and much has already been achieved. Further, a committee has been "set up for some time, comprising representatives of the Government and of business men with a view to exploring certain specific proposals as well as the most effective measures of further co-operation and co-ordination between private and public enterprise. < NEED FOR CAUTION. "Progress along these lines must be cautious, for it is fraught with more problems and difficulties than Mr. Hislop and his colleagues, in their inexperience, appear to be aware of. The Government has no intention of making electioneering capital after the fashion of the Democrats, by committing the country to specific proposals before the ground has been most thoroughly explored. Having effected the major adjustments, necessitated by the heavy decline in overseas prices, and thereby established sound economic foundations which have already led to a marked improvement in business confidence, the committee referred to is already at work in an endeavour to devise a procedure of consultation and negotiation with groups engaged in the development of private enterprise. This is a necessary first step to the formulation of a sound and equitable programme. \ A CHESTERTON STORY. '■'G. K. Chesterton, in one of his books, tells the story of three Englishmen who set out in a well-appointed yacht to discover and carry to some new islands the news of salvation and the blessings of English civilisation to the natives. Unfortunately, they had no experience of navigation and they firstly encountered a storm in the English Channel and then a fog, through which they drifted for many days until they completely lost their bearings. Then, as the fog became a little lighter, to their great joy they saw an island ahead of them. The party landed and took possession in the name of the King and, seeing some natives moving dimly through the fog, they set out loaded with presents and ready to proclaim to the natives the way to salvation and the blessings of organised government. They had no sooner started to declare their policy than the fog lifted altogether and they found that they had discovered England, having landed at a favourite south coast watering place and were proclaiming to Englishmen the benefits of English civilisation. One must not judge them too harshly because they were inexperienced in navigation, and the fog was a particularly thick one. The story has quite a prophetic touch about it and it seems hard to believe that when he wrote it, Chesterton had never heard of the New Zealand Democrat Party."