CALL TO THE PEOPLE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 163, 12 June 1939, Page 4

CALL TO THE PEOPLE

DOMINION’S DIFFICULTIES. f CHANGED PHILOSOPHY WANTED. I Making a pica that New Zealanders r should take a mure active interest in the welfare of the country, .Mr M. G. ! C. McCaul, of Wellington, a past pre--1 sident of the Associated Chamhers of ■ Commerce, on Eriday, delivered a strik- ' ing speech at the annual <linner of the - Palmerston North Chamber of Com- ' merce. He urged the adoption of a ! changed philosophy in government, that our standard of living should rest naturally on our standard of produo- ' tion, and that the energies of the nation should ho bent on improving ' the standard of production .so that the standard of living might rise with it. j “I have an appeal I wish to make . to the people of New Zealand to throw off the miasma, of lethargy from which . we are suffering and to take an active . interest in the welfare of our country,” ; said Mr>MeCaul. “1 have not risen to j speak fair words to you, but to sound I a clarion call to every man and woman who loves this land of ours. Smooth words and comforting phrases w ill get us nowhere. A democratic form of government has more virtues than weaknesses, but it has serious weaknesses. I think its chief weakness lies in the diinclination of the people to face unpleasant facts, and lack of courage on the part of those who desire public support to tell them the truth, if unpleasant. FEW NATURAL RESOURCES. “It is as easy as it is inaccurate to talk vaguely and comfortingly of the j immense natural resources of this country, and consequently of the high standard of living we can attain. New Zealand is not a country of great natural resources. Indeed, apart from its climate, „whieh is a very valuable asset, it is poor in natural resources. If we except Newfoundland and some few islands of no great eonse- j quence. New Zealand is the poorest I endowed country in the British Era- j pile. A substantial portion of our j country is barren mountain tops. .Most I our land is poor and requires a lot ol artificial manure. We have very little mineral wealth. That is one of tho reasons why we cannot successfully produce iron and steel. We cannot produce high grade metallurgical coke. . “When we consider the standard of living we aspire to and the amount of work we are willing to do to earn that standard of living, the limits of our natural resources must lie taken account of. Now that the time has eonie to cease living on natural resources and to replace by cultivation and manures what we take out of the soil, we find that our standard of living; I rose so high while living by the dis- ! sipation of our natural assets that we cannot aflord the labour to maintain the fertility of the soil, and that land goes out of production. 1 have not given you this inlormntion merely to belittle our country. ,Mv message deals mainly with the need i'or greater economy and industry on the part of every section of the community if we are to emerge success fully from the very serious financial dilemma in which the country finds itself to-day. “It will he obvious to every oliserv- 1 ant person that 'this country is in a. critical position, both financially and industrially, and there is a very real danger of collapse unless steps are taken to correct the present serious tendencies. ’J he cause of our present undesirable position originated in an unsound luit very pleasant philosophy (hat we could slacken in our efforts, reduce hours of labour, and at the same time raise wages and our standard of living merely by the iutroduc- i tion of ‘linens noons’ into our money system. Silly slogans wore introduced like ‘maintain prosperity by spending’ when everybody, in their heart of hearts, knows quite well that money •spent is gone, whereas money saved of a reserve to maintain our standard of living in less prosperous times. Now that our nest-egg of over £40,000.0dd of London money has disappeared and we are'on our uppers' wc know where that philosophy leads us. I ANO’JTIKE PHILOSOPHY. | “There is another philosophy, and one which I think will lead to hotter results. Jt is to allow our standing of living to rest naturally upon our j standard of production and to bend all our energies to improving our standard of production so that our standard of living may rise with it. “Most of our troubles are the result of ‘muddle headednexs’-—the sort of idea that all is for the best in (behest of possible worlds. We must learn to look facts straight in the face and relate cause and elfeet. A lot of what is done will lie for tho worst, not for the best, no matter how pleasant the words are that announce the policy.

The span of a politician s view is only from one election to another, but a mail expects to live for 80 years, tiierelore ho should look further ahead than the vote-catching politician. “During the past three years wages have risen, the hours ot labour bate boon shortened to 40 per week, ami our national production has fallen. This is an impossible position and can load only to disaster. .11 we really love this country of ours wo will ne pi epared to make some sacrifice to hcip.it 'in its present time ot serious financial I difficulty. Let us aspire to the highest standard of living that, our industry and intelligence can attain to. .1 must make a sacrifice let it be o our leisure. If we wish to save our standard of living we must sacrifice the a >- hour week, f make an appeal to every citizen of New Zealand, high or low, to each employer and to each employee, to work longer hours and to work harder in a supreme and sustained ellortj to pull this glorious little country o ours out of the mess in which it now finds itself. Eor the past three yeais we have been living m a loots l>ai«diso, and it would he silly to protein that wo have not. T am sure that U only we New Zealand people can In brought to realise how serious a position our country is in, we have "Mint us the power to rise superior to all om difficulties and by sheer merit and industry to achieve a high “[ am thoroughly m accord with tlie remarks,” said the chairman (Air A K. Henderson), president ot the I a merston North Chamber) persona he had always said that much ot tin. cause of our troubles was coni pit- 1 _ thought most of the Labour MmixUis realised that they bad turned the 1 of progress too quickly, and wo ' to turn it back. II they Are people of New Zealand, 10 ',V J. j n that the people would suppoit + I ,it buck. I hen we would get out of the difficulties wc were coming |