THE ROOTS OF PROSPERITY

Northern Advocate, 4 October 1937, Page 4

THE ROOTS OF PROSPERITY

In the opinion of the Christchurch “Press,’ one of the most disputable assertions in the Financial Statement is that the heightened prosperity of the country is. “to a major extent duo to the legislation passed last year.” Mr Nash., while expressly disclaiming credit for the “higher prices for meat and wool, which made a contribution In the increased national income,” held that “the policy of readjusting ami extending the incomes of the mass of the people had brought a major improvement in the Dominion’s internal economy.” The “Press” thinks “it would have been fairer and simpler 1o admit the obvious—that the Dominion is bet-j ter off, first and foremost, because the great bulk of the pro-j duetion for export has been priced! up in the market. Higher price levels and increased income have sustained all 1 lie Government’s measures: they have furnished the pool for increased wages, they have borne the cost of other increases in the price of

labour and materials, they have given the fundamental impetus to consumer demand and created employment, they have quickened the flow of State revenue. If Mr Nash has any doubt about all this, he may set about the task of explaining how the Government’s redistributive legislation would have worked out had oversea prices remained. Hat. He will have some difficulty in explaining how, in such circumstances, the present recovery would have been stimulated and ‘to a major extent’ achieved.”