Mr. Rushworth and the Government

Northland Age, Volume 1, Issue 4, 30 October 1931, Page 6

Mr. Rushworth and the Government

Why He Voted Against Them

The following are extracts from the speech of Mr. Rushworth on the noconfidence debate in Parliament on the 16th, giving his reasons for supporting the amendment moved by the member for Egmont.

“In common with others I had hoped a great deal would come from the union of the two principal parties in the House. Following on an exhaustive examination by a National Economic Committee, I thought, as others thought, that at long last we would have the main problem dragged into the light of day. We were utterly disappointed We have a number of symptoms of the ills of the body politic. These symptoms are failure of land-settlement, the impossibility of maintaining those at present engaged in breaking in the land. We have tremendous distress felt in ail the exporting industries. We have stagnation in industries generally, we have stagnation in commerce, we have unprecedented unemployment, we have a growing tendency towards economic nationalism. We have difficulty in balancing the Budget. Now, sir, these are all symptoms of the one disease, and I suggest it is the action of a quack to take these symptoms separately and to deal with them separately. Supposing a doctor had a patient who is ill and has the symptoms of a headache, a high temperature, rapid pulse, a furred tongue, weakness and lassitude. No doctor would be satisfied to take those individual symptoms and treat them separately. He would treat them as a whole. We have a Coalition Government taking these symptoms as though they were diseases in themselves. My view is that we should take the whole of the circumstances and treat them as symptoms of a dis-

ease, and see if we cannot diagnose the disease. What is the disease? We find it not only here in New Zealand but also in other countries. Many members have referred to the fact that they are looking forward to a return to prosperity. In Heaven’s name what is prosperity? Are we not enjoying prosperity at the present time? What is happening ? Are we suffering from the effects of plague, pestilence, or famine ? Surely not. In what does prosperity consist? Does it not consist in an abundance of the fruits of the earth, and all those things that make for our comfort and well being. Is there any shortage? There is no shortage at all. There is a superabundance of the necessities of life. They are in such an abundance that all the countries are finding it difficult to find markets for them. This applies not only to the necessities of life, but we have it with the luxuries as well Now the thing that

is perfectly obvious is that the trouble lies in the realm of distribution. The present machinery of distribution is utterly incapable of dealing with the great and increasing volume of production. We are not suffering from any scarcity but from the curse of plenty. All over the world, the same advice is being given by alleged experts! ; we are being told that we are living too extravagantly, and that the only road to salvation is by economy and more production. That is the j world-wide advice. It is becoming a | popular catch-cry. Yet the wealth of the world is heaping and heaping, and, j with it, a growing destitution and a j growing unemployment problem. As | leaders of the nations we have to play our part; and I submit that time is 1 not wasted in thoroughly examining I the situation to see where really lies i the trouble. No doubt New Zealand, | in real wealth, has never been so prosperous as she is today. The volume of | production is growing in leaps and ; bounds, and there is a shortage' of noj thing except money. But when we in- ! vestigate the sphere of finance we

find a different state of affairs altogether. We find that one of the most important parts of the machinery of distribution is that known as banking, currency and credit. That is where the machinery is breaking down; and my distress is caused principally by the fact that, in spite of representations and in spite of the utmost urging, the Coalition Government has given no indication whatever of an intention to investigate the matter. I ask for no more than a full investigation into the banking, currency and credit systems in operation in this Dominion. Therein, I believe, lies the fundamental point so far as New Zealand is concerned The real pro-

blem lies in the realm of banking, currency and credit, and I believe that if this Government does not investigate the problem thoroughly the country will stagger along like a drunken man until we have a Government which will face this issue. I do not call for any immediate drastic action—l do not advocate it-—but I certainly insist that we should have at once an open and full enquiry—none of these enquiries held in camera—into the operations of our banking-currency-credit systems ”