CREDIT SOCIALISATION

Hawera Star, Volume L, 7 April 1931, Page 4

CREDIT SOCIALISATION

LOCAL MARKET EXTENSION TO MEET DOMINION PROBLEMS PLEA BY LABOUR PRESIDENT. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, April 6. A comprehensive survey of the economic position in New Zealand was made by Mr. J. Thorn, president of the New Zealand Labour Party, in his address to delegates attending the fifteenth annual conference <jf the party, which opened to-day in the Trades Hall. He said that with the increase in the wealth of the country there shoulid have been a commensurate improvement in the workers’ conditions. If instead the workers suffered it was a condemnation of the modern social order.

Mr. Thorn referred to the displacement of men bv machines and declared that the remedy was to reduce hours and to pay wages which would allow the workers, to come effectively into the market. Mr. Thorn criticised the - deflation policy of the banks, one of the results of which, he said, was to enrich the interest-receiving class and curtail the buying power of the masses. From the position of the Dominion he thought the following deductions were reasonable:

(1) That New Zealand’s interests are constantly in jeopardy while it almost entirely relies on the London market, where a disastrous fall in prices may be ordained, by manipulators and speoualtors.

(2) That the gradual development of New Zealand’s local market js desirable to lessen the need to soil .in London, and as our production is increased it should be devoted to the 'liquidation of our indebtedness abroad.

(3) That to accomplish this development there should bo socialisation of New Zealand’s credit resources and

their devotion to the stimulation of the primary and secondary industries.

PATIENT WORK NEEDED. ,

“For myself, I never felt that the problem presented by capitalist and financial industry for profit to be more intricate and its solution more difficult than it is to-day,” continued Mr. Thorn. “Two things are certain —one is that a remedy cannot be applied by magic; the other is that there is no solution whatever that will take the workers’ interests and well-being into account unless the workers unite industrially and politically and are ready for the patient yet determined work involved in a reconstructive policy. “The situation requires efforts in the following directions: A trades union movement which can visualise itse'if in the role of creator of a new society based on co-operation, and which fully appreciates the value of political action, because it is now impossible to confine the definition of industrial questions to negotiations that go on between workers and employers; the fullest possble unity between the trade unions and the Labour Party, with frequent consultations in a spirit of helpfulness and comradeship so that the most vital effect can be produced in every situation as it arises and so that propaganda and parliamentary work might have the full benefit of combination and be encouraged and inspired; oontacts to be established with, the many organisations serving humanitarian purposes throughout the country; endeavours to meet farmers’ organisations for discussion on common problems with the object of gaining opinion for the Labour Party’s view that the farmers are at least entitled to the same economic security and advantages as the party is- asking for wage workers, and so that the bond of common interest between the two bodies of workers might he strengthened.

“In these ways,” concluded Mr. Thorn, “the Labour Party can widen its influence throughout the community and strengthen every tendency towards social growth, it will act as democratic leaven and be an instrument for the rejuvenation of the country.