The Grey River Argus THURSDAY, October 21, 1943. REHABILITATNIN.

Grey River Argus, 21 October 1943, Page 4

The Grey River Argus THURSDAY, October 21, 1943. REHABILITATNIN.

The National Party intends drawing on any special experience of its .Parliamentary membership in the matter of post-war reconstruction, but it did not during the ('lection campaign even hint at any plan. Its press now complains that the Government does not offer manufacturers any reconstruction plan, but surely they ‘ought to be. able themselves to at least submit some outline. The Minister of Rehabilitation, Mr. Skinner told the manufacturers at their recent conference that each should'formulate his own plan for resuming pre-war production. The Government does undertake to find work for the men who are to be repatriated, and, while the Nationalist press objects to such work being of a public nature, there should at least be some indication from that quarter as to what are the workable alternatives. In Britain, the Government has indicated its conviction that restrictions and control now in force for organised production and the regulation of consumption cannot be dropped with the end of the Avar. State control is foreshadowed there in rationing; in the distribution of raw materials; in the employment of all available workers; in the control of prices and of the cost of living, and also in the control of foreign trade. Britain intends to go in more for “quality” than “quantity” production. But the Beveridge plan suggests public works to employ about a. million and a quarter men for live years. New Zealand may not need to plan five years of public works, but it must envisage manufacturing stability, as well as closer settlement. A leaf could bo taken from the books of countries where trades unions, joint industrial councils, and employers’ origanisatoins co-operate, to promote the welfare of their respective vocational groups. The employers here should take counsel. with the workers. It is ad-

mittod that unless New Zealand industry can be successfully reorganised after the war it will not be possible to rehabilitate ex servicemen. It is said that a great deal of new industrial plant will be called for, aijd that taxation of capital will require relaxation to facilitate it. Another thing people generally recognise is that we must devise means to utilise our own raw materials. So much has locally been indicated by the interest shown in the possibility of using coal and timber for plastic manufacture. It is not impertinent to suggest that manufacturers might consider the feasibility of admitting manual workers to ownership in industry. To do so would ensure their security and therefore their utmost co-operation in the stage of reconstruction. It is to be hoped banking and finance will not in New Zealand stand in the way of private enterprise in industry any more than it now is able to stand in the way of State enterprise. Possibly manufacturers would welcome State support financially in the same way as many primary producers have done. All agree to-day planning is needed. ’Most reckon that the State must take a hand in it. This must,, however, be done in such a way as to make for maximum freedom, and not for/ any sort of totalitarianism. Thus, it is no use for the industrialists to expect the State to do everything, since in that ease the State must secure itself by limiting the initiative of those assisted. It is up to private enterprise immediately to formulate adequate schemes to facilitate rehabilitation on a truly national scale.