"THEN AND NOW"

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 92, 20 April 1939, Page 17

"THEN AND NOW"

CHANGED OUTLOOK

ADDRESS BY MR. S. G. HOLLAND, M.P.

Commenting on the changed attitude of Labour Ministers as expressed recently by the Minister of Finance (the Hon. W. Nash), Mr. S. G. Holland, M.P., when addressing the Wellington South branch of the National Party last night, said that Labour was learning by experience that New Zealand could not be insulated. Production had decreased in some exportable commodities and had increased in others, but the increased exports had brought in less/money. "It is extravagant to live at a £66,000,000 rate on an income of £50,000,000; it is absurd to imagine that we can preserve a prosperity which is unaffected by conditions overseas; whether the Labour Government likes it or not the people have to learn the lesson that New Zealand's prosperity is based on production and that production is essentially primary," said Mr. Holland. "The Labour Government is today reaping the bitter fruits of its misguided emphasis on spending. It has left production to take care of itself, and the result has been calamitous. At the very time that we want more production we find that we exported last year 36,000 fewer bales of wool, 360,000 fewer hundredweights of butter, 37,000 fewer hundredweights of cheese, 78,000 fewer hundredweights of pork, and 152,000 fewer hundredweights of lamb. The tune is to be changed .now that we are in the midst of the crisis entirely brought aoout by Labour blundering and negligence." MINISTER'S STATEMENTS. Mr. Holland cited the two following statements: — (a) A statement by the Prime Minister, Mr, Savage, in October, 1936: '"This scratching, scraping, starvation system of individual savings strangles the economic freedom and well-being of a nation. We have got to stop that. . . ." (b) A statement made to the Labour Conference last week by the Minister of Finance, Mr. Nash: "Now the position is different. A saving from people's actual income is necessary to counteract a possible danger of prices rising and as a • basis for capital expansion. It is unnecessary' to stint or curtail demands for food necessities, but to the extent that the demand for other goods is restrained prices will be more stable. For saving now, that is, withholding expenditure now to enable our people to enjoy more in the future and to avoid price increases now, there is an unanswerable case." "Little wonder in this self-made crisis that the Minister of Finance is alarmed and calls for thrift," continued Mr. Holland. "Who is the 'Man with the Umbrella' now? Who is concerned with 'rainy days'? It is tragic commentary that with all the opportunities for education today one man whose judgment and sincerity have been proved sound amid a storm of abuse and criticism —Mr. Hamilton— has-been held up to public ridicule, while another who has led New Zealand into a financial crisis of the first magnitude has been cheered for platitudes and alibis for ineptitude. ••BITTER EXPERIENCE." "But we are learning from bitter experience. Once we heard a lot abput ■insulation.' Ask the farmer today if he understands it. Mr. Savage says that whatever happens overseas cannot affect New Zealand —he would see to 'that. In 1938 we shipped away 1,500,000 more sheepskins than in the previous year, but we received £877,000 less for them. Is that insula- | tion? Last year we shipped away i 77,000 more calfskins than in 1937, but j we received £74,000 less for them. We i shipped away 36,000 more tons of tal- j low in 1938 than in 1937, but we re- i ceived £123,000 less for them. And so ; the farmer asks: 'Is that insulation?' "People have been fed on the soft soap of: 'We have nothing to fear." i Yet sections of the community have j lost their liberty. They had nothing |j to fear. The farmer's costs have rock- '! eted till many are in a serious plight and unproductive work has been made j more attractive than productive work. ! They had nothing to fear, I suppose. ; Importers have been wiped out. They had nothing to fear. Import trade has been slashed to ribbons, and the people are still told there is nothing to fear. I The crisis today has been man-made \ and is unnecessary. It is Mr. Nash's \ responsibility and a national calamity. "I would conclude with comment on the importance of production. Of the total exports of New Zealand the cow and the sheep provide 95 per cent. We are more dependent on overseas trade than any other country in the world, j Last year our overseas trade was j £113,000,000, and of that amount the I cow and the sheep gave us ) £100,000,000. People must realise that if we doubled our own consumption of butter we would still have 4,000,000 boxes to sell; that if we increased the local consumption of wool five times we would still have 600,000 bales to sell. PRODUCTION FIRST. "We cannot have prosperity and security while production falls. The Reserve Bank is not a substitute for production and cannot be. Spending is based on production—not vice versa. Experience is now teaching the Labour Government truths we have pointed out time after time. Even it must know now that we cannot have expansion of trade while watersiders load 550 boxes of butter in the same time in which they formerly loaded 800. "When we realise the truth in this we will have pulling together for the common good. New Zealand depends on agriculture but there is room for expansion for all. Discussions must be on their relative merits and 'town versus country' will get us nowhere. For years under a Labour Government's false emphasis on extravagance instead of thrift and on spending without income rather than on spend- f ing based on production we have built | down instead of up. I

"The National Party has always made this contention, and appealed to logic rather than mob psychology, and today bitter experience will bring home to many the truth of it."