NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1934. ECONOMIC PLANNING

Northern Advocate, 6 February 1934, Page 6

NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1934. ECONOMIC PLANNING

Registered for transmission through the post as a Newspaper.

j One of the principal themes o Ghc many speeches delivered a Waitangi during the past fe\ days has' been the need for* we' ordered planning for the fiitun though there lias been ho spec: fie reference to a plan restricte to a certain number of year; this has been done by inference If the Maori orators had not dis cussed planning .they would hav been out of step with moder; thought, for today there, is, th world over, unprecedented dif cussion of a plethora of plan; This was emphasised at the Sum mer School of the Australian Ir statute of Political Science, wide has just concluded at Canbem The subject of the conference “Economic Planning,” was pai tieularly topical. Economic plans Mr Portus pointed out, are a old as Genesis and the “Sever year Plan” of Joseph for Egypi But there has never been, linti present times, such a flood o plans. We have had the Five year Plan, the Lang Plan, th Premiers’ Plan, Roosevelt’s ori§ inal “plans,” and even a “battl of plans.” The school resisted th temptation to draw up anothe plan, but the general consensu of opinion was undoubtedly i: favour of some form of eeonomi nlanning. As the “Sydney Morn ing Herald” remarks, many ser mphs preached at the schoc Plight have taken as text Si Arthur Salter’s words in hi “Recovery,” that “It will no suffice to restore the frictionles; self-sufficing quality of the oh Preely working competitive sys tern. We ; need to supplement i by planned direction., by a regu 'ative control.” Yet there Aver not wanting, “rugged individual : sts. ” like Professor Shann, win -tressed the difficulties and dan gers of such regulation from tin purely economic view, and sue! Gladstoniap Liberals as Mr J. A MaeCallum. who foresaw, ii whole-hog national nlanning ; peril of losing individual politi cal liberty. . Their warnings ain 'hideed worth weighing. foi among the possibilities envisagec wore the increased regulatioi . ind ultimate abolition of: fre< enterprise and property; utilisec as economic power, together witl the decided increase of nations self-sufficiency. It is also, in tin opinion of the “Herald,” • wel worth examining the view frequently expressed at the confer nice, sometimes by the professional economists, that partial planning in Australia and Nen Zealand by means of tariffs bounties, exchange ratios, and the like, has sometimes been illadvised and often inconsistent, One important lesson was that economic experts have theii limits, since the problems they deal with are also social and political in their causes, controls, and repercussions. The economist must keep, as Dr. Walker put it, “in his cage.” Economic remedies are extremely complex and pi ay have unexpected results. The Australian Institute of Polltical Science may be congratulated on its effort to grapple with the pressing problems which affect us all. We can only solve those problems by the aid of knowledge, understanding, scientific analysis, and careful planning. Increasing interest is taken in them by all classes of society. There is a groAving demand for information and instruction. We cannot knoAV too much about economics and polilics. The danger comes only from those with that little learning which leads to half-baked theories and futile actions. The search for knoAvlodge and understanding should be encouraged in every possible Avay.