Evening Post. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24. 1939. GUIDING OUR WAR EFFORT

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 99, 24 October 1939, Page 6

Evening Post. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24. 1939. GUIDING OUR WAR EFFORT

If the conduct of New Zealand affairs in the last war is to be discussed it should be with accurate reference to facts and conditions. The Prime Minister's retort to Mr. Cheviot Bell is not acceptable in this respect. It states the accumulated surpluses left by Sir Joseph Ward at about £30,000,000—about double the amount shown in Sir Joseph's last Budget—and accuses the then Government of dissipating these reserves "in buying land and houses from its rich land-owning political friends." The suggestion of political malfeasance is unjust and unwarranted. Mistakes were made and land was bought too dearly, but the Government of the day was being urged on by public opinion. Private purchases of land, guided by the same optimism, were even more extravagant, and the Government's losses were mainly in loans to assist discharged soldiers, not in its own land purchases. A fair judgment would admit these mistakes, but admit also the many excellent achievements of a Government which kept the Dominion's credit and reputation at the highest level in a period of exceptional difficulty which had to be faced without the guiding experience of any similar emergency. The wartime Government of New Zealand had no cause to be ashamed of its record—even acknowledging all its mistakes. If inquests are now to be held there will be others on whom the verdict—-taking stock of help arid hindrance —will show no favourable comparison. It is not profitable, however, to waste time in debating what was done in the Great War, except to avoid repetition of mistakes. All attention should be concentrated upon directing and pushing forward the Dominion's effort in the present struggle so that at its end we may look back upon our achievement with pride equal to that which, on a balanced view, New Zealand can still take in the effort of 1914-18. Can we claim that this task is being satisfactorily undertaken? The Government has ample power, both in its command of a big Parliamentary majority and in the unlimited authority which it has been given to do anything and everything called for by the war emergency. Also, it has the benefit, if it is willing to take it, of the experience gained in the Great War. Yet there are public misgivings regarding the manner in which the powers are being used. On the one hand, there are numerous councils and other advisory bodies, and on the other hand all decision seems to centre in one man—the Minister of Finance, Customs, Marketing, Social Security, and several other more or less important departments. Probably because of this concentration, there is little information given to the public, and it is difficult, if not impossible, to judge how far the preparations of New Zealand are proceeding according to plan, and how far the administration is just dealing with urgent questions. as they come tumbling in. It is essential that there should be a plan— l particularly upon two most important points: man-power and finance. Concerning the former, the Government in the last few days has announced the constitution of a central authority whose duty will be to consider what men cannot be spared from industry. This is something, but it deals only with one part of the question—the negative. It provides a means for deciding what men shall not join the fighting services; but it does not say who shall join. Both parts of the question will ultimately have to be faced. On finance the Government has taken the most complete power to do whatever it wills—whether by persuasion or compulsion. But the public have only the scantiesg^information as to how these powers are to be used. A bulletin issued lately by tlie Canterbury Chamber of Commerce in consultation with the Department of Economics of

Canterbury College sheds light upon the production and financial task awaiting to be done; but cannot, of course, state what is being done. In fact, the bulletin's statement of main principles serves only to emphasise how little is known of how far the Government is following those principles. For example, the bulletin stresses that, if the war burden is to be borne without inflation or the accumulation of heavy debt, the first means of providing defence finance should be by economy in other Government expenditure. The Government has- admitted in general terms the need for such economy, but has given no indication that it is being practised or how it is to be brought about. Without such economy, the bulletin points out, there must be difficulty in financing the war soundly from taxation and loans because "it is very doubtful whether taxation can be pushed beyond or even up to this point [existing taxation] without impaling tlie income from which it is ! drawn and so reducing future taxable capacity." It is also pointed out that to permit of recourse to loans for war purposes, pressure of other expenditure on borrowing must be eased. The bulletin points out further the economic disturbance that must result from inflationary credit issues. How is the Government following this or any other plan? The public do not know. They have been told what extra taxation, is to be immediately imposed —and that is very heavy—but beyond the declaration that credit and loans will be used, there is no information. This does not suggest that a definite plan is being followed.