NATIONAL INCOME

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 146, 23 June 1938, Page 10

NATIONAL INCOME

THE PEOPLE'S SHARE

BETTER OFF UNDER LABOUR (By Telegraph—Press Association.) DUNEDIN, June 22. A claim that by its policy in increasing wages and distributing the national income the Government had conferred an immeasurable benefit on the people of New Zealand was made by the Minister of Education (the Hon. P. Fraser) during his address in the Town Hall tonight. Mr. Fraser said the Government did not, and never had, contended that it would control prices overseas, but it claimed that its policy had been of great benefit to the people of the Dominion.

"We are told that this prosperity would have come .anyway, even if the i Government had not been in office," Mr. Fraser said. "I want to say that j we have never claimed we can control the prices of wool, butter, and cheese I on the London market,.but we do claim * that, while we are pleased to have good ( prices for New Zealand's produce overseas, if another Government was in 1 office, the Nationalists, for instance, the people as a whole would not have re- ] ceived the benefits that the Labour J policy has given them. What is the ( benefit of that percolation of wealth brought about by the Government's measures? The money that came into the country would never have reached a great number of homes ■ under another Government, because, we have had prosperity before and still there was hardship in many homes." . The Minister quoted comparative income figures showing that between 1935; and 1938 the total wages of New Zealanders' rose from £60,969,149 to £91,588,230, an increase of more than £30,000,000. Small farmers' average incomes went up from £102 in 1935 to £295 in 1937, and at the present time they were over £300 a year. The increase of income brought about by the Government's policy for the.small farmer was equal to 200 per cent, WAGES AND COST OF MVING. "It has been said that the cost of living has risen to such an extent,"; Mr. Fraser cqntinued, "that the people are no better off than when their wages were smaller. That is not right. Wages have risen by 23.3 per cent., or tfearly a quarter, but the cost of living has increased by only 12J per cent, or oneeighth. It is important that there should be good wages, but it is also important that they should ( be regular and assured-to the people and should go into the homes of the people at a fair rate during every one of the 52 weeks in the year. The important thing is the • size of the income that comes into the home so that the housewife can see that everyone in the family is adequately provided for. By that test the 1 Labour Government's policy has conferred an immeasurable benefit on the • homes of this Dominion." 1 The Minister referred to the increase ■ in savings bank depositors from 840,000 1 to 920,000 between 1935-36 and 1937-38 "under a Government that was going to close the doors of the Savings Bank." Extra deposits amounted to £13,700,000 and the average individual deposits had gone up by more than £8. Dealing with the Government Life Insurance Department as representative of all the insurance companies, he said that new business had risen from £2,005,995 in 1935 to £3,430,940 in 1937, while the policies in force had increased from 69,982 to 80,959. The total amount assured and in bonuses had' gone up from £25,051,292 to £29.409,136, • an increase of £4,357,844. j The net profits of 50 companies oper- , ating in New Zealand had risen from £2 800,000 in 1935 to £3,600,000 in 1937, an increase of £800,000, or 274 per cent. f All these things were real indications r' of prosperity. 5 Other reports of Mr. Fraser*s address appear'on page 6 and page 7.