THE NEW YEAR

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 31 December 1938, Page 8

THE NEW YEAR

PRIME MINISTER’S MESSAGE A SOUND AND CONTENTED COUNTRY "A STEP NEARER IN 1939” I Urn ip-1 I'tphh A-wnciaftmH WELLINGTON, This Day. The Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage) has issued the following New Year message:— “The beginning of a New Year affords a suitable opportunity for all of us to pause for a while to take stock of our year's achievements and to give some thought to the future. It is the practice, I know, for the Prime Min- ; ister's message to set out the sum of achievement of the year and. from the sources of information at his disposal, to give some indication of what he believes to be the prospects of the year ahead, but since the events of the past year are still very clearly in the people’s minds, I should like to confine myself to the present and the future. “A GREAT RESPONSIBILITY” 1 “Those who serve the public have a gre»t responsibility in constantly looking ahead in order to form opinions about the future before deciding what courses to follow. Obviously the wisdom of their actions depends upon the | wisdom of their judgment on future i trends. ANXIETY AND SORROW OVERSEAS “Overseas there have been few years in living memory of greater anxiety and sorrow. During 1938 there have been, and indeed there are still, wars in progress, and threats of war. In the economic sphere the great w’orld centres have experienced a serious trade recession which fortunately now show-s an upward trend, but so long as the countries of the w'orld are engaged in an insane and gigantic scramble for armaments, there can be little likelihood of a return to normal trading j conditions. To a country like New Zealand, this is a serious matter. | “NEW ZEALAND’S PEACEFUL PROSPERITY” “From this far-off and well-favoured land we can remark on the contrast of oUr own peaceful prosperity with the uncertainty abroad with feelings of the deepest thankfulness. As a result of three years of a Labour Government, we have made a notable recovery from the nation-wide distress of the slump period. To-day living standards are high and we have embarked on a programme of expanding social services which must raise those standards still higher. The Government has spent money in order to get the business machine back into running order. NATIONAL INCOME EXPANDED

“The national income has been expanded by increasing the purchasing power of the people and by increasing the country’s powers of production. Trade and income have been maintained and, given the effort and th« will, they can be increased. PRODUCTION TO BE INCREASED “The Government is determined to encourage further industrialisation and to secure a more rapid increrse in production. Above all, it is necessary to bring into existence industries which serve a sound economic purpose. If slumps are felt abroad we would be worse than foolish in this country jf we did not apply .he experience we have gained in their treatment in the recent past. To the extent that we have acted in accordance with those teachings we have succeeded in keeping prosperity here and we mean to keep it here. WILL FIGIIT SLUMPS “T would like to repeat now that I have stated many times—we will fight slumps and not go with them. We will fight them with a policy of expansion not of retrenchment. Slumps are not inevitable. They can be overcome by vigorous, inteLi«gent measures and, above all, by a spirit of confidence and optimism. Those who attempt to undermine confidence in the Government, or who resort to the unpatriotic practice of financial sabotage, are doing a grave disservice to their country. Neither financial desertion nor industrial strife can be permitted to endanger our economy. CALL FOR CO-OPERATION “Our present prosperity and rising standard of living are worth defending and I would like to take this opportunity to call on everybody to coopciate with the Government to that end. Co-operation can take many forms. First of all there is the spirit of goodwill and optimism. More than that there is the willingness to help. The Government has not hesitated to act in accordance with its plans, but success must always lie with the people themselves. I have already stressed the need for maintaining and increasing the volume of production. The co-opera-tion of everybody can take its most practical course in this way. The message I would give for 1939 is this: “Let us keep what we have gained and let us all work with a will to build a still richer and happier New Zealand. Above all, let us show the world that we still have faith in our democratic institutions by making them function efficiently and well. If our heritage of the democratic way of life is worth enjoying, it is worth defending with all the spirit we possess, and I think we in New' Zealand have that spirit and that faith. I trust that 1939 will see us a step nearer to our goal of a sound and contented country. A Happy and Prosperous New Tear to you all.”