Evening Post

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 67, 16 September 1943, Page 4

Evening Post.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1943,

GROWLS AND CAUSES

If what has happened in the past could be conveniently forgotten, the Prime Minister's lack of patience with people who growl about shortages of certain commodities in time of war could be more readily appreciated. Mr. Fraser's statement that those who stirred up complaints were doing fifth column work and doing something detrimental to the war effort would be much more convincing if it were not for the fact that many of the shortages now being experienced have been aggravated by a policy which the Government put into operation before the war began. During the 1938 election campaign Government spokesmen cajoled the people into a feeling that all was well and that it was only necessary to return Labour to office to ensure unlimited prosperity. But the election was no sooner over than the Government could no longer disguise the fact that the policy it had followed since 1935 had brought New Zealand face to face with a very real economic crisis. Sterling funds which had been carefully built up in London by the previous Administration were dissipated, and drastic measures were necessary to restore a balance. These measures included a clamping down on the importation of a wide variety of goods. The Government, by the controls it exercised, became the sole judge of what imported goods should be available to the public.

It is only necessary to glance back over the import schedules issued in 1939 and subsequently to realise the effect that the policy of selection had on stocks of many important commodities. Restrictions, by forcing us to use up reserves, meant that wartime shortages became acute long before they woujd have done had the policy of selection not been in operation. In other words, the Government, as a result of its bad financial management, its reluctance to let electors know the real position of the country before the 1938 election, and the necessity to cover up by drastic measures the consequences of its own ill-considered actions, has greatly aggravated the .shortages which are now apparent. When Mr. Fraser sets out to rebuke the people, as he did in Christchurch, these facts should be remembered. Nor should it be forgotten that, on the word of both the Minister of Supply (Mr. Sullivan) and the Minister of Health (Mr. Nordmeyer), the policy of import selection, instituted to meet an emergency, is, if Labour is returned to office this month, to become a permanent feature of the country's economy. The Government, in effect, says to the people of New Zealand: "We are much better qualified than you are to decide what you should have ■ the right to spend your own money on." It is for the people to say whether they are prepared 'to accept such a measure of dictation.

In his Christchurch speech, too, Mr. Fraser spoke of. people who growled because they could not have an egg every morning or because this little thing or that little thing was in short supply. After a reference to conditions in other countries, the Prime Minister said: "We may be asked to do with less of certain commodities. If we are, I hope the people of New Zealand will show the same spirit of sacrifice." There has never been any doubt of the willingness of the people to accept sacrifices cheerfully, but that is not to say that they are willing to condone the mismanagement that has marked many of the operations of the Internal Marketing Department. People do not growl because they cannot have an egg for their breakfast; they growl because bureaucratic mismanagement has so often resulted in ample supplies of eggs being available to restaurants and none at all to private homes. They growl because some districts have plenty while others have none. The co-operation of the people can best be gained, not by unjustified rebukes, but by ensuring that efficient methods are employed in the distribution of the goods that the people need.