"INSULATION"

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 112, 14 May 1938, Page 10

"INSULATION"

ECONOMIC SHOCK EXPLANATION REQUIRED ✓ GOVERNMENT'S PLAN Stating that he did not believe that the Government had any such plan, Mr. C. H. Weston, K.C., president of the National Party, in an address to the women's section of the party in Wellington last night, challenged the Hon. W. Nash, when speaking at Lower Hutt on Monday night, to explain .the scheme for "insulating" the Dominion against the effects of a fall in overseas prices. Mr. Weston quoted as follows from a recent speech by the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage)" Even if there is any recession overseas, Labour's policy is being framed to avert the effects from being imposed on the people of this country. . . . Should such an occurrence again afflict the -world—and I see no reason why it should—then I can assure you there will be no better test of the success or failure of our policy. ... We have our plans ready—they are both comprehensive and detailed." This,. Mr.. Weston said, could only mean, and was obviously intended to mean, that the. Government had already devised a means of sparing New Zealand from the disastrous effects of a fall in prices for produce shipped overseas. 1 What a comfort it would be to people to know that they had rulers who could prevent the recurrence of the great depression. There were, however, sceptics who frankly did not believe the statement. They had pressed for an explanation of how it could be done, but had received no definite reply. On the other hand, there were a great many men and women who had faith in the promise and assure ance given by the Government They believed that a Government pledged to turn New Zealand into a Socialist country had ways and means of giving a standard of living that no other system could give. It was true that some people had an uneasy feeling that certain pre-elec-tion promises had not been carried out, but they probably allayed that uneasiness by saying they were made in the heat of an election and while out of office. This promise, however, was made while saddled with the responsibility of office, and, so far as Mr. Nash was concerned, after the experience of 10 months in England and on the Continent. The would be the first to admit that if the Government made these promises, knowing very well that it had no plan by which to carry them out, it would be guilty of obtaining voters' confidence by false pretences. "Personally, I am, one of the sceptics, and do; not think Mr. Savage or Mr. Nash has any such plan," said Mr. Weston, giving as his reason the Government's inaction in regard to the flax and scheelite industries. OPERATION OF PLAN. If the Government had such a plan, it was plain that it would operate more easily in connection with a minor indlustry than with a major one, such as the wool or the butter industry. The flax and scheelite industries were minor ones, but the consequences of a fall in prices were just as sharp to those immediately concerned. , The overseas price for "hard fibre" had fallen so much that the New Zealand fiaxmillers could not produce it sufficiently cheaply to sell at that price. Flaxmills had been closed and hundreds of adult workers had been thrown out of employment Export markets and the promising flax textile industry in New Zealand would probably be lost. The scheelite industry was entirely dependent on overseas markets. Some, months ago the price was £500 a ton

for ore; today the price was £140 a ton, and men were being thrown out of work. Both these industries had given the Government an excellent opportunity to test the plan which it said it had prepared. Howeve'r, the Ministers concerned were all silent, except the Minister of Labour. He had visited Foxton and made a speech, in which he said: "I am just beginning to wonder whether we ought to do anything with the industry or let it go." He had also said: "If the Government were given the chance, as he thought it would be, at the next election, it would make a real industry of the flax industry and meet the people's requirements without sending raw material to Japan or Timbuktu." "Here are two tests for the success or failure of the Government's policy," said Mr. Weston. "If it cannot insulate two of the smaller industries, how can it insulate the bigger, such as dairy produce, meat, or wool?"