N.Z. MONETARY SYSTEM

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIV, Issue 79, 15 March 1934, Page 9

N.Z. MONETARY SYSTEM

PUBLIC CONTROL URGED LABOUR PARTY VIEW By Telegraph—Press Association. DUNEDIN, March 14. Mr M. J. Savage, Leader of the Opposition, addressed a large audience in the Town Hall last night. Mr W. J. Morland, chairman of the Labour Representation Committee, presided. Mr Savage, who was accorded a very enthusiastic reception, said that the main problem facing the Dominion to-day was one of distribution of national income. It was useless to go on producing more unless the increase in production were made available to the people. Improvements in machin ery and scientific processes were responsible for vast increases in production, without a corresponding increase in the employment of manual labour, and unless the benefits of machinery and science were equitably distributed among the rank and file of the people, who were responsible for the production, recurring periods of depression were inevitable. A way out of the present difficulty was the complete public control of the monetary system, which should be organised as a national service, having for its object the supply of sufficient credit and currency to enable the people to exchange services with each other. That was not the object of the present banking system, although the existing banking machinery might easily be made to serve the purpose. Opponents of Labour frequently asked where the money was to come from to guarantee prices for goods and services, and they -conveniently overlooked the fact that since 1922, when the first wage and salary reductions were made, the -wholesale destruction of the medium of exchange was carried out by acts of Parliament. Fanners and others were called upon, from time to time, to provide goods for export in order to meet Dominion commitments overseas, and they were entitled to expect guaranteed prices sufficient to enable them to enjoy a standard of living in keep ing with the productivity of New Zealand industries. Such guaranteed prices could bo maintained only by the payment of wages and salaries in equitable relationship with the aggregate prices to be paid. Without guaranteed purchasing power, in form of wages and salaries, guaranteed prices for products could not be sustained. Under the present conditions the producers were at the mercy of the speculators, and stability of trade and industry was impossible. At the conclusion of the address the speaker was accorded a unanimous vote of thanks and confidence, amidst applause.