LACK OF CONFIDENCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20244, 2 May 1929, Page 16

LACK OF CONFIDENCE

Sir,—lt is my belief that the real reason of the trade depression in the Dominion is not lack of confidence, but that as a community we are over-com-mercialised ; in other words, we are suffering from a lack of balance between the productive and the non-productive elements in our national life. If the population of the Dominion were divided into two sections, 1 think we should find that tho non-producers far outweigh the producers. Tho lack of balance is not, however, confined to the human element. It is just as apparent in our method, or want of method, on the financial side. We were recently told by a Minister of the Crown that there are over £9,000,000 awaiting investment. The reason, it is suggested, is not lack of confidence, but that the trading section of the community is using as much as and probably more capital than ia required. On the other hand, in spite of the huge favourable trade balance of the Dominion as a whole," tho land is being starved for lack of capital. A large majority of our farmers are unable to bring their land up to anywhere near its full productive powers, solely because they are unable to get sufficient capital to enable them to work efficiently. We should not shut our eyes to the fact that unemployment cfennot bo cured by the temporary expedient of building railways and roads. The only permanent cure is to redress the present uneven balance between the productive and the non-productive elements and to do this we shall have to bring rational methods to bear on our national organisation. Other countries are tackling the same problem from this point of view and New Zealand sooner or later will be driven to follow suit. "Rationalisation" is a comparatively new term, but it is a very expressive one and that there is ample scope for the practice of it in the organisation of our national life is unquestionable. INDUSTRIALIST.