“N.Z. Should Be Self-Sufficient”

Northern Advocate, 29 July 1938, Page 2

“N.Z. Should Be Self-Sufficient”

MR C. M. WILLIAMS.

: -We do not want to be the elderly ! spinster of the British Empire; wo 'should be self-sufficient," declared Mr ( . Morgan Williams 'Govt.. Kaiapoi) ' curing the Budget debate in the House 'of Representatives on Wednesday. Ho ; stressed the importance of the develop- ; inenl of local industries within the : Dominion, and said that unless a policy inf this character was put into operaItion New Zealand would fill the roll lof the elderly spinster who clung to i her parents and was left helpless) | when the parents passed on. j ivli Williams argued that the time j hail arrived when New Zealand should ( develop an economy that was not dej ’pendent on Britain. As the birthrate .was declining in Britain, the demand ■ for products must also decline, and as : time went on Britain would be less : able to consume what New Zealand : produced. j "The time has come when we in i New Zealand should become a nation." |ho said. "We have grown up and I should no longer rely on our parent j for sustenance.” j j Now Zealanders should "cut the j painter” and separate the Dominion’s j economy from that of a country on the other side of the world. While New Zealand remained dependent on another country for income and on a single class of produce to obtain that income, the country was in a dangerous position. “We are like the young albatross near Dunedin,” he said. “It is bigger than its parents, according to photographs, but it is still dependent on them. The time will come when they will fly away and leave it to its own resources."