Evening Post THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 1939. LITTLE ON POLICY

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 151, 29 June 1939, Page 8

Evening Post THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 1939. LITTLE ON POLICY

Hilaire Belloc once wrote three series of essays: "On Nothing," "6h Everything," "On Anything." Any one of these titles might be applied to the Speech from the Throne in which the Governor-General's advisers purported to explain "the cause of his calling this meeting of Parliament together." But, whereas Belloc's titles promised little and that discursive, and the essays gave more and that pointed, the Speech gave little, and, least of all, the cause of calling Parliament together. That was explained only in one brief and uninformative paragraph at the conclusion—a bald statement of the subjects on which legislation would be proposed, This lack of information on Government policy is, to be sure, not a new feature in Speeches from the Throne. Other Governments ihave established.a custom of telling Parliament as little as possible, perhaps with the idea that this will save discussion on the Address in Reply. It never achieves this .purpose, but the practice is continued in hope. Yesterday's Speech, however, set a-new standard in covering a wide variety of subjects and saying nothing new upon any of them. We would not, nevertheless^ say that the effort was altogether without j value. Indeed, that part of it devoted to the international situation and a survey of the country's defence preparations was most valuable. While affirming the Government's attachment to the principles' of the Covenant of the League of Rations and its belief that a just and stable international peace can never be fully attained by, any other method, the Speech admitted that full and effective applicatioii of the Covenant was, for the time being, impracticable.;: It followed from this that the Government had "been much preoccupied",with the problems of defence. The summary that followed, Lhoiigh itr contained no new information, was a reassuring account of defence preparations. It showed that the preoccupation had not been without result^ andthat New Zealand is, Jnow much nearer than formerly)to the stage at which it may hope that its defence is adequate for any emergency. Only upon one point would we question the terms used in this part of the Speech. In reference to Jand forces it-jjjated::;

The people' of this Dominion, my advisers believe, will readily realise the necessity for defence and the impossibility of taking adequate: steps for this purpose unless those who are fit and competent look upon it as a privilege to share this burden and voluntarily come forward in sufficient numbers. My advisers urge this duty upon all.

The implication, or rather the, statement, that adequate defence is impossible unless the voluntary, systemprovides it, is not pne which can be accepted.. Parliament must face this question and consider whether voluntaryism is proving adequate and whether, if it is not, the country is prepared to risk inadequacy. Much more open to argument and contradiction, howeveii, are the terms in which the Speech presented aspects of government policy and administration in Departments other than defence. Consider, for example, the following sentence and contrast it with known facts: .

The more stabilised conditions now obtaining in the dairy industry.as a result of my Government's guaranteed price and marketing policy and the gradual improvement in conditions noticeable since 1935, both in manufacture and in commerce, are* reflected very clearly in the country's revenues. What are the facts? The "more stabilised conditions" in the dairy industry certainly give a stable price through the season, but it is stabilised at a level which a competent commission of experts held to be inadequate last year and which is now still less in keeping with costs of production. And the effect of even this low-level stabilisation will be "reflected very - clearly in the country's revenues," though not in the sense- the Speech implies,\ by a guaranteed-pricc deficit which appears likely to be a million or more. Again, while the Speech mentioned the added yield in land and income tax, it did not state the effect of this drain upon the country's resources. And, except that it followed, in order of statement, the reference to "prosperous conditions," the perfunctory mention of sterling control and import restriction was given no relationship at all to these allegedly "prosperous conditions." This was the jbare, inadequate reference: In order that the Dominion's overseas funds may be conserved and utilised to the best advantage, having regard to the necessity of meeting payments for imports and commitments iin respect of overseas debts, my Ministers have found it necessary to institute control of external exchange, involving control of remittances abroad, control ql credits accruing from exports, and control of imports.

On general policy, and particular, ly problems o£ finance and national.

economy, the Speech, indeed, left a lot unsaid. It claimed "stabilised conditions" in the dairy industry without giving the cost to dairy farmers or to taxpayers, it mentioned public works and the internal loan but not the embarrassing use of Reserve Bank credit, it recorded the "inauguration of the most comprehensive scheme of social insurance so far, attempted in any British country" without any statement of the cost or how it is to be met, and it glided easily over the sterling crisis with no admission: that this was caused by Government policy. An uninformed reader of the Speech might, in fact, conclude that sterling control was only an incident, and, unimportant at that, that everything in the country was prosperous, and that there were no problems for Parliament to consider. This may be the way in which the Government would have Parliament^regard the situation. But facts are facts and cannot be gainsaid. The session has been opened with a cheerful (except as regards international affairs) and discursive statement omitting everything awkward and unpleasant. But the legislators will not be able to take this as presenting the problems that await them. A grave and almost unprecedented crisis cannot be settled by simply ignoring it/, ■'•' .■ ■'■■.'■ '• ' '