King Country Chronicle. Thursday, October 1, 1931. A MODERN UTOPIA.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXV, Issue 3372, 1 October 1931, Page 4

King Country Chronicle. Thursday, October 1, 1931. A MODERN UTOPIA.

In another column a correspondent takes us to task for our expressions of opinion on the present economic conditions. While we freely acknowledge the sincerity of Mr. Croall when giving his views on the subject there are many factors contributing to the chaotic world conditions which he has overlooked, and have to be, rectified before it can be possible to achieve that Utopia which to our correspondent seems so easy of attainment. In the first place the finances and commerce of this country are not controlled internally. The cost of money depends on the London borrowing markets, and the rate of interest in London is decided first of all by the state of the world's money market, and secondly, by the security a borrowing country like New Zealand has to offer. Our correspondent is of the opinion that the rate of interest should be 2% per cent., but if this Dominion is to pay 5% per cent, for outside capital, who is going to pay the difference and the cost of administration of the loan moneys. We fully agree with our correspondent that the rate of interest must be reduced, but if it is implied that the State, by extra taxation, should make up the difference between the rate of borrowing and the proposed rate of lending, there would be chaos from one end of the Dominion to the other. New Zealand is one of the heaviest taxed countries in the world, and the greater the taxation, the greater must be the burden on all industries, with a resultant lessened demand for labour of all kinds. Mr. Croall slates that the only solution of our present problems is "by scientific planning on Socialistic lines." The only construction that can be placed on this is that we should adopt the Five-Year Plan of Soviet Russia. It yet has to be proved that the Soviet Scheme is going to be a success from the workers' point of view, or that slavery conditions do not exist in Russia for a shadowy objective. Mr. Croall is apparently further obsessed with Soviet methods of finance when he complains of this country having to pay huge sums for interest. Would he repudiate these debts in the same way as Russia did? These interest charges represent a contract, and it would be repugnant to the people of this country, as with those of all countries of the British Empire, to repudiate any contract, large or small. These interest charges represent the capital which built our roads, railways, hydro- | electric schemes and other public amenities, and the main portion of this capital was paid in wages to workers, so they reaped many benefits from these loan moneys. It would be a fine thing if the State indebtedness of this country could be written off, but to repudiate them would be nothing short of theft on our

part. We hold no brief for the money magnates of the world. The presentday conditions have been brought about by these men, who sought to corner the world's gold and are only now beginning to realise that their action has affected themselves in a way which they never expected. Meanwhile, we have to adjust our economics to those of other countries. To talk of reducing the hours of labour when the workers of other countries in competition with this Dominion are labouring 50 and 60 hours a week to our 44 would mean nothing less than disaster to our primary and secondary industries. We do not subscribe to the opinion that there is an over-production in world commodities. There are more people in want to-day than has been the case for the last half-century, but the means of distribution, i.e., the small quantity of gold in circulation, is responsible for this. Mr. Croall states that Labour has been striving for generations to obtain justice for workers in the way' of high wages, shorter hours and lower prices. Can he deny that in this Dominion and most other parts of the Empire the lot of the workers are infinitely better than in other countries? Is it possible to pay higher wages and work shorter hours in this counti*y when we are beset on the London markets with competition in our primary products from countries where the hours of work are 20 per cent, longer and the wages 25 to 30 per cent, lower? A thorough realisation of these facts is where Labour fails in this country. The capitalistic system is far from perfect, but if there is to be a change from that system it must be a world-wide movement, in which all the nations of the world must participate. In the same way the workers can only improve their lot by an international movement. For one country, or even the whole of the British Empire to attempt to set up a modern Utopia for the workers would end in disaster for both , workers' and capitalists. Social > services in this country have been provided far ahead of other countries with which we are in commercial competition. We can afford this because of our many natural advantages, but to go too far would lead to trouble for all sections of the community, including the workers.