THREATENED DEPRESSION.

Evening Star, Issue 23438, 1 December 1939, Page 2

THREATENED DEPRESSION.

TO THE EDITOIt. Sir, —” Restrictions,” who sets out to discuss import control and the loss of a job ; states that he has no marked admiration for party politics. He then proceeds to effectively disprove this statement by discussing such party questions as ‘‘ taxation,” “ untrained, inexperienced men,” “ cost of living,” etc. It should be evident that no Government cun make full provision for every individual who may at some distant date lose his employment. By manufacturing goods within the Dominion instead of importing them wo shall obviously provide more work thi n can be provided by importing houses. The development of secondary industries is now proceeding at a rate unprecedented in the history of New Zealand, and this will more than counter-, balance any dismissals from importing houses.

“ Restrictions ” admits that he was in work in 1931-35, but 80,000 of his fellows were not. Will he tell your readers how many letters he wrote to the Press during that awful period of demoralisation and degradation? A world depression did exist during the period 1931-35. but I confidently assert that tho foolish policy of Messrs Forbes and Coates and their vicious action in cutting wages and pensions and paying men off Government works did accentuate the trouble. That was the period when the " untrained ” and “ inexperienced ” men were at the helm, but “ Restrictions,” being in good work, was no doubt oblivious of this. I would remind your correspondent that the £40,000,000 of imports for September, 1939, is for nine months only whereas the equivalent average figure quoted for 1931-35 was for full 12-monthly periods. A little mental calculation will reveal to him the excess value of imports that New Zealand will receive for tho full 12 months under Labour’s import restrictions, as against tho restriction of imports by a process of wage and pension cutting under the Nationalists.

I am not able to oblige “ Restrictions ” as to the amount of Government purchases included in the £40,000,000 of imports mentioned. This is a question that one might expect to be asked by a party economist, not from a man who simply desires to regain a position. As, however, he has a penchant for probing into such matters, if ho will advise me what proportion of an average £40,000,000 imported in 1931-35, under the Nationalists, was Government purchases I shall endeavour to obtain similar information for tho nine months of 1939. He concludes by asking what steps he should take to be placed in a similar position to the one he alleges that he has lost. His chances of securing such a position will be negligible should his present efforts to secure the return of the Nationalists bear fruit. —I am, etc., No Wage Cuts. November 30. TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —The loss of employment by “ Restrictions ” is to be deplored (if correct), but more deplorable is the defeatist outlook affected by your correspondent. Such an outlook, if engendered at this time, will not be conducive to a ugpiessful prosecution of the war, and Durther, will inevitably lead to the depression he so positively forecasts. The import license scheme must , bring hardships to some, but those hardships are hot comparable with, tho widespread suffering and, destitution which a . return to orthodoxy, with increased indebtedness to European money lenders and its necessary corollary, reductions in salaries, wages, and pensions, must bring in its wake. In his first effusion “ Restrictions ” attributes all the problems of our country to the “ incompetence and mismanagement ” of the present Government, while his second letter asserts that these are due to “ lack of training ” and “ inexperience ” on the part of the Government. He seems fond of questions, and I feel 1 must ask him one. He cites the last depression as “ world-wide ” ; would it be logical as a consequence to attribute those conditions of poverty and suffering to the incompetence and mismanagement of the world statesmen of tho time, or did a series of sun-spots or other natural phenomena affect normal trading and living? Your correspondent’s prediction of the dreadful fate awaiting clerks, travellers, warehousemen, etc., after Christmas is possibly the brain child of an ardent study of the “ empty shelves ” campaign so energetically sponsored by Professor Algie, and analogous to the 1 Mein Kampf ’ theory that a lie repeated constantly in suitable media will in the end be accepted as the truth. If “ Restrictions ” honestly seeks an answer to his question as to what is to happen to those thrown out of employment—not 1,500,000, as reported to be unemployed in Great Britain —let me assure him that local industries can and will absorb them all and more, but certainly not while he and others seek to convene meetings of- protest and create a depression psychology. Admittedly, the cost of living has risen, but if this is entirely tho result of the implementing of the elected Government’s policy, then 1 suppose “ Restrictions ” will logically blame our Administration for a similar rise in other countries. As to the statistics of taxation, probably “ Restrictions,” saturated with parrot-cry propaganda, will be surprised to learn that a married man with two young children in New Zealand can earn £350 per annum and yet not pay one penny in income taxation.

Co-operation with the Government of this country will not only enable your correspondent to find a position, but will also assist in the honest endeavours to keep the cost of living from soaring (vide the reference in last night’s 1 Star ’ to the footwear profiteering scandal in Great Britain). —I am, etc., Greatest Good for the Greatest Number. November 30.