GOVERNMENT POLICY

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXX, Issue 4870, 14 July 1936, Page 5

GOVERNMENT POLICY

MR. BROADFOOTS CRITICISM. ADDRESS AT PIO PIO. The contention that we in New Zealand can be prosperous and selfsufficient by internal adjustment alone was criticised by Mr. W. J. Broadfoot, M.P. for Waitomo, in addressing a meeting of the Pio Pio Settlers' Association on Saturday. "Our crisis was the collapse in overseas prices/'said Mr. Broadfoot. "Not until a general rise in world prices occurs will we be safe in assuming we are on the road to recovery. The bridging of the gap between prices and costs has been a distasteful but necessary procedure." Mr. P. S. Cullen was in the chair. At the close of Mr. Broadfoot's address the following resolution was moved by Mr. Crocombe and seconded by Mr. Gauntlett, carried unanimously and handed to Mr. Broadfoot: "That this organisation is deeply concerned to know how the Government proposes to compensate the mixed farmer for rising costs consequent on increased labour wages, shorter hours, and increased cost of transport, education, and civil service."

Mr. Broadfoot prefaced his address by briefly traversing the world causes of the depression. He stressed the dangerous condition of Europe and Asia to-day and its effect on world peace. The speaker disagreed with the theory that it was the capitalist system which was at fault. He pointed to the progressive increase in the standard of living in capitalist countries during the past century. Socialism, the speaker said, destroyed incentive—incentive to work, incentive to succeed. These virtues should be fostered, and not destroyed. Slogans and catch cries were an anaesthetic, he thought, while something else precious near to Socialism was occurring "between the lines," as it were.

"Promises are so easy and performance so difficult," he reminded his hearers. As a practical example of this old maxim the speaker asked his audience to recall all that the present Government had said in pre-election addresses about the abolition of the high exchange rate and the sales tax. These were still with us for good or ill.

Unemployment Figures.

No weekly statement of unemployment figures had been published since the new Government took office. Were the figures not very convincing? Whatever they were, the speaker assured his hearers, the Opposition were going to hammer away until there was some periodic publication of the figures for the enlightenment of the country.

Abolition of Boards.

The speaker deplored the destruction of boards of control in the wholesale manner that had occurred during the session. The burdens on Ministers of the Crown were multiplying alarmingly. He wondered why boards which functioned so efficiently in Great Britain should be slaughtered so uproariously here. He instanced the great work of the Port of London Authority, the Board controlling the Electric Grid Supply System of England, and the British Broadcasting Board. There must be something to be said for them still. Power in New Zealand now resides in the Minister. And against his word there is no appeal. The law should be laid down by statute, said Mr. Broadfoot, and a board might well be asked to carry it out with ability.

Reserve Bank Bill.

Speaking on the Reserve Bank Bill, Mr. Broadfoot said that here again an independent board has gone. The Bill was to control the credit and currency of the country. The Nationalists considered that the policy should be laid down and left to the board to be carried out. But again the Minister has power to alter any line of policy he wishes. In the past the Treasury could borrow up to 50 per cent, of estimated revenue. Under the Bill the present Government can borrow up to 100 per cent. Nov/ that the Government virtually owns the sum total of sterling credits at the Reserve Bank, the Finance Minister has a definite control over imports. There are no limits set to the advances which can be made against exported dairy products. Although dairy produce is the only primary product so far controlled by the Primary Products Marketing Bill, that clearly gives the Minister power to control all primary products, and the speaker did not hesitate to say that he thought they had every intention of doing so. The Central Bank funds will be drawn on not only for guaranteed prices, but also to finance public works.

Railways.

"The Railways Board has gone. It has been buried 'without the benefit of clergy,' and yet we are all agreed that in the last few years when it has been functioning the railways have never given better, sympathetic and more efficient service," continued the speaker. Speaking of new railway lines, Mr. Broadfoot stated that now we had political control there would be many lines built which could never be anything but uneconomic. How will they be paid for? "We will use Public Credit," says the Prime Minister ("whatever that may be," said Mr. Broadfoot). Few of the new lines will ever pay axle-grease, and all their construction will do will be to add a grievous burden to the public debt, he contended.

The Unemployment Board.

The Unemployment Board had gone and the unemployment problems were now bureaucratically controlled, and all control was vested absolutely in the Minister. The burden was too heavy for one man. The old board lived within its income, pointed out the speaker, but the new Act gave the Minister power to borrow from the Exchequer. The previous Government guarded its summer expenditure in order to have something in hand for the extra burdens of winter. No

such foresight was exercised by the new Government. Taxation for unemployment was still at the old level and likely to remain there. Shorter hours and high rates of pay were the order of the day. Where in all New Zealand do dairy farmers get paid for Saturday afternoons and Sundays? The new P.W.D. rate of 16s a day was only the minimum. Many such workers were earning up to £1 a day. Half of such expenditure was surely nonproductive. The problem of labour in the country had still to be faced. There was still a profound distaste to leaving the cities and towns, and the number on sustenance in towns was being rapidly increased.

Overseas Markets.

There was no mandate handed to the present Government for State control of marketing. In England the question of controlling the supply of beef, milk and butter, wheat and so on was put to the vote of the producers, but in New Zealand the Government laid down its policy first and then told the dairy industry representatives that they may discuss only the machinery clauses. With regard to the actual marketing of the produce, a businesslike procedure would have been for the Minister of Finance and Marketing to have gone Home first, got a perspective of conditions there, and then formulated his scheme for New Zealand. After all, we must consider the effect on the British market for our produce of the development of agriculture in Britain. Britain was determined to be more self-contained in the matter of food necessities. We must not run any risk of crossing swords with her. She is bearing a great burden on our behalf in the face of potential danger in the Pacific, said Mr. Broadfoot.

Regarding transport, the Minister was again supreme. Against his decision there was no appeal, but all decisions ought to be capable of review.

One of the purposes of the previous Government in abrogating the original I.C. and A. Act was another attempt to bridge the gap between costs and prices. This had been undone and the gap would grow wider. Prices must mount swiftly, all assurances to the contrary notwithstanding. The unions were now in complete control. Was anything more ludicrous than the basic wage? It was formulated on the needs of a married man and three children. Of the 256,000 men employed in industry, 152,000 were single men. But they draw the basic wage too. Industry in effect must carry the burden of 529,000 mystic children and 103,000 imaginary wives. "This is what we in the Opposition call pell-mell legislation," said the speaker. "Unionism is now compulsory. If a man doesn't join a union he can't get a job. Why this compulsion? The growth in union funds must or will be enormous. Surely the whole move is to collect funds for militant purposes to gain control of industry. It all means increased costs; increased costs are followed by fixation of prices; fixation of prices is in turn followed by control of production," concluded the speaker.