“TAKE THE MEDICINE."

Evening Star, Issue 21232, 13 October 1932, Page 7

“TAKE THE MEDICINE."

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—There will bo very few people m who will doubt the integrity and sin- ® centv of Air A. Ansell, M.P., but tiioi o must bo a very large number who will disagree with the opinions ho has ex- W pressed during the Financial Debate. m Personally, as a unit of society, and perhaps an insignificant unit when com- ||| pared to the mass, I claim tho right f not to swallow the medicine advised by the honourable member. Although it S mav be the very best mixture that the members of the commissipn could provide so that a conservative body may steer quite clear ol the rocks that seem S to loom ahead threatening disaster, 1 ffi believe that the composition will not ig cure the disease. We are requested to ® submit to a lower standard of living » if we are to meet our liabilities. Last ® week 1 had the misfortune to listen to of an open confession from a wage worker B wh had not been averaging more than jg £3 a week for tins last six months, and S* wno was now dismissed by the Dunedin fjg Drainage Board, and was compelled to ® fill in his qualification papers to permit S| him to earn a livelihood by relief work. He declared that wo had been living ]S too high. 1 pray that ho may be tor- S given, for he knows not what he says. sH However, this is tho sincere belief of jg thousands in our midst, and no doubt S they are entitled to some sympathy. « Like manj- more, I claim the right to w plead not guilty. I find in the New m Zealand Official Year Book, 1932 || (page 786), that the workers of this dominion have increased the volume of production during tins last eleven years to the value of' £32,660,00(1, or a 38 | per cent, increase, despite the decline U of £3,600,000 in the pastoral group duo ||j to tho big drop in the price of wool. Wliy the working people should be re- |t quested to submit to a lower standard » of living after’increasing the volume of jg wealth 38 per cent, to mo is a mystery, s| and we are entitled to be supplied with m some good sound reasons why such a pi request should be made. On page 519 gi of the same book we find that the in- ms terest payments from the Consolidated h: Fund have grown from £2,457,952 —an n average payment per head of the population, man, woman, and child, of £2 || 5s 10a—to £9,266,676 (£6 3s 9d), a || burden that is threatening tho very * existence of the majority of tho people. ® Perhaps the honourable member lor Port Chalmers, or some of the .faithful adherents of the Conservative Party, « will enlighten the people how tho prosent, system operates so that, after Is they hare increased the volume of a wealth 38 per rent., they increase their || burden of debt 400 per cent. There || must appear to all intelligent people ag a wheel loose somewhere in such a sys- g teni which, when attention is applied to it, will no doubt result in the pro- $ paratiou of a different medicine from that which wo are requested to take -jj prepared by tho members of the Na- - | tional Expenditure Commission.—l am, I etc.. R. Harrison. « October 13. $ [Tho second comparison which our | correspondent makes is over a period of jg nineteen years.—Ed. E.S.] |