"BOGY OF SOCIALISM"

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 6, 7 July 1938, Page 6

"BOGY OF SOCIALISM"

TRENDS OVERSEAS

.ECONOMIC REGULATION

Mr. Forbes had. spoken of a fear for the future which he said was pervading the country, but when he was in office there was a tremendous concern for the actual need of the moment, said the Minister of Justice (the Hon.; H. G. K. Mason). When the last Government was in charge the position of the young people was most desperate. Much had, been said during the debate of how the young people were flocking to the bankers of. the National Party; but youth had had no hope when Mr; Forbes and his colleagues were in office. A few years ago one would have j looked in. vain for a single advertise^ ment for the services of any young j person at all; today there were many j such advertisements. j "I cannot believe that youth has such a short memory as all that," the Minister continued, "and the youth of this country, I think, will not forget the utter disregard that was had for their interests and ambitions in the! regime of the previous Government." | Mr. W. A. Bodkin (National, Cen- i tral Otago): There is tremendous distress today in the cities, Mr. Mason: We are told what will happen, but we know what has .happened and what is happening today. WORD OF MANY MEANINGS. "The bogy of Socialism has been mentioned by the Opposition, and we are informed that the coming election is going to be fought upon this issue," said Mr. Mason. "That is a very interesting statement indeed. I wonder which is meant by this bogy of Socialism. Do Opposition members mean that none of the legislation of an economic nature should have been passed? What is the Socialism of which we have been accused? The word has been given many meanings. I want to tell honourable members this, that if we are Socialists^ and I am not saying we are not, we, keep company with a good many others, and j if we were to lag behind in what we are doing we should be lagging behind the rest of the world. In this economic legislation we like to think we are leading, but perhaps we are not leading by much, and if we did not push forward we should be lagging behind." Evolution was a constant factor all over the world, and the same forces wefe working in the same direction in many countries. In all parts of the Empire there was regulation of economic affairs. Even in Old England, with a Conservative Government, it had been found necessary to regulate and control the marketing of primary products. Mr. Forbes: Do you think it is sound to curtail production? Mr. Mason: If there is over-produc-tion, that is, more than the people require, I certainly think' the time would come to curtail production. I think it is quite feasible that there may be real over-production, and if there is, then it should be restrained just like any other form of waste. Overproduction which is really the result of people not having the money to buy j is another matter. I am not in any way speaking of curtailment as a remedy for that. I think the nation j has more to do than to go on prodiic-i ing that which is already in excess, j Let the energy be turned elsewhere. MORTGAGE RELIEF. The Minister said that little or nothing of the mortgage relief applications would be left to be dealt with by the end of November. The applications filed for relief had totalled 34,474, and their consideration was naturally not a mass-production matter. Consequently it would be expected.that the work would be onerous. At the end of May applications still awaiting consideration comprised 6285 relating to farms and 5031 to mortgages other than farming. He expected that the remaining cases would be disposed of with considerably more rapidity than those preceding, and little or nothing would be left by the end of November. A great deal of preliminary work had been done by Government Departments which constituted the big proportion of the mortgagees, and uniformity had been studied in dealing with the cases, said the Minister. The adjustments in Wellington had been completed recently, while those in Dunedin had been disposed of some time before.' The hearings in Auckland and Christchurch had yet to be completed. . Mr. H. G. Dickie (National, Patea):

Will that be the end? Any chance of them being reopened? The Minister: The essence of this work is that it will be a conclusion. He expressed appreciation of the work done by members of the Adjustment Commissions and the Court of Review, and also the officers of Government Departments.