SOCIALISM REVEALED
While Mr. Savage was engaged at Dunedin in his favourite pastime of sugar-coating the |Socialist pill, the Labour candidal for Wellington South (Mr. McKeen) was telling the people of NeWtown something of the real meaning of the policy which the Government is placing before the electors of .New Zealand. Mr. McKeen's statement placed him side by side with the Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Minister of Finance (Mr. Lee) when he revealed the real significance of Labour's credit and currency control policy.
We have decided to extend our control over the banking system to enable us to facilitate the production and distribution of goods, said Mr. McKeen. Banking is a national obligation and should not be in the hands of private joint stock, companies at all.
Here is the definite declaration which ,the Prime Minister avoided at L ■ i - -- -: - ■'.
Christchurch. Mr. McKeen's state-
inent leaves no room for doubt about Labour's intentions if it is again entrusted with office —the private banks and other financial institutions are to be brought into the Socialist plan and the State is to become complete master of the situation. But Mr. McKeen has done no more than confirm, in language which permits of no misunderstanding, what must have become evident to all those who have given serious thought to the real meaning of Labour's approach to the currency question. In the first place, the Labour Party's manifesto speaks for itself. In extension of its policy, the manifesto states, the Government proposes to maintain and extend the control of credit and currency until the State is the sole authority for the issue of credit and currency. In the second place, Mr. Lee has written: • With a Socialist Government ■in power, the Bank of New Zealand and, indeed, the banking system of NewZealand, must finally be OAvned .in their entirety, else the Government is Socialist in name only. And, in the third place, Mr. Savage said at Christchurch that it was just as necessary for the nation to be the sole authority for the issue and control of money as it was for it to be the sole authority for the organisation and control of the Army and Na\ry. Even if they were agreed that the money system was not as good as it should be, it was necessary for the free life of industry and the welfare of the community. As concerning the private banks and the private financial institutions these statements admit of no ambiguity. Mr. ; McKeen has made the writing a little clearer. It is further proof against those Socialists who, on the eve of an election, would dissemble and say that the issue is not Socialism.
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Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 80, 1 October 1938, Page 8
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445SOCIALISM REVEALED Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 80, 1 October 1938, Page 8
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