WILL STARTLE N.Z.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 51, Issue 3208, 23 December 1942, Page 4

WILL STARTLE N.Z.

Mr Robert Semple has returned to'"the Ministry of Public Works with all his vocal vigour fully restored. “If I am free and able to do my job with my health 'I will startle this country,” he said at the Tasman tercentenary celebrations at Hokitika. It is pleasing to see that Mr Semple intends to approach the problem of rehabilitating soldiers, also now one of his cares, with the determination that the men who fought for their country shall have the best that can be provided for them. Bulldozers and angledozers may play an important part in improving and roading land upon which returned soldiers are settled. Mr Semple is determined that soldiers shall not be placed upon undeveloped land and left to struggle with heartbreaking problems. In this he will have the public with him. But it is evident that Mr Semple intends also to “startle the country” with a public works policy apart from the rehabilitation of the soldiers. He paints a brave picture of a new ordbr in which everything that is desirable in the way of public works shall be done. “There is nothing too big for us to do,” he affirms enthusiastically. This is good reading. From the beginning of time mankind has been limited in the provision of the amenities of life by the mundane thing known as money, or cost. But Mr Semple says, “If the war has done any good thing to the world it has exploded the fallacy of money power.” Again this is excellent reading. Yet there,

; seems to be a “catch” some- ! where. Even while Mr Semple was speaking, very large sums were being added to the national debt and further weight . was being added to the annual interest bill. By all means let us have all that may be desired in the way of public works. Nothing could be better. New Zealand ' would soon become a model country to which immigrants would be attracted in thousands —millions. But if, coincidentally, the national debt and the taxation bill are driven to dizzy heights, costs of living and production will reach such proportions that New Zealand will certainly be out of touch with the rest of the world—unless Mr Semple has found the magic formula for which men have been seeking through history. If he has found it he should' no longer keep ordinary people in suspense. If he is going to startle New Zealand with his public works he should at the least explain how he has laid the ghost of money power and freed the world from the chafing shackles of “finance.” If Mr Semple can startle the country with public works without also presenting a startling bill of costs he will be a great and memorable Minister of Public Works. In any case he will be forgiven much if he succeeds satisfactorily in rehabilitating New Zealand servicemen.