NATIONAL PROBLEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20678, 25 September 1930, Page 8

NATIONAL PROBLEMS.

ATTITUDE OF POLITICIANS. "THE HALF-CLOSED EYE." NEED OF SOUND POLICIES. "I always have the feeling that the most serious problems facing New Zealand are viewed by the politicians with a half-closed eye to the welfare of the country, but a well-opened eye to the effect of their speech upon the voters," said Mr. J. Fletcher, managing-director of the Fletcher Construction Company, Limited, in an address given at a luncheon of the Auckland Creditmen's Club yesterday. Urging the need to fare present-day problems openly, Mr. Fletcher criticised some of the methods adopted by Governments in meeting the situation. Mr. Fletcher said the effect upon the electorate and not upon tho country as a whole appeared to bo the keynote of all political activity. Through a halfclosed eye was based the country's finances, public services, unemployment policy and even local body administration. In their attitude to public finance, the politicians irrespective of party, found money no object and the taxpaper found tho money for their objects. The political attitude was a calling of a tune by those who did not pay the piper. In spite of the attempts of Chambers of Commerce and financial authorities to frame ) financial policies, successive Ministers of Finance had only an eye to the effect of their policies upon the electorate. A policy which must he insisted upon was one which fitted tho object to the available money, and not the money to the object. There should be placed before Parliament annually a statement showing not merely the expenditure of the Government, but the income of the country and its assets and liabilities. Three successive Budgets had been presented to Parliament, each increasing substantially the burden of taxation. f Control by Best Brains. But for the altitude of a half-closed eve, Ministers would have brought in a policy of retrenchment, Mr. Fletcher said. A readjustment of the wage standard was necessary, while a reduction in the salaries of ■ civil servants must also be brought about. . However, legislators did not approach their subjects with constructive ideas, but found their chief occupation in securing the discomfiture of the parties in opposition to them. In Parliament, as in the country, more concentration was required in finding solutions to economic problems than in saying the apt word which might influence the electors. Mr. Fletcher suggested that a move should be made in tho direction of securing the control of the country by the most capable of tho elected representatives. This could only be done by the coalition of the moderate forces on the one hand, leaving on the other the extremists. With such a coalition it could be reasonably expected that the Railway Department would be removed from the curse of political control. 'The vicious system of the half-closed eye was now striking at the finest of the railway services—the limited express—and to satisfy parochial interests it was « proposed to have stops at Te Awamutu and Te Kuiti. There was a general manager of railways who was so hedged round with restrictions, rights of appeal and political interference that it was almost an impossibility for him to dispense with the services of any of his staff. Railway workshops were fitted with the latest appliances, but they did not attain near the proficiency they could under business management.

The Unemployment Fund. Under present conditions, the Public Works Department constructed bridges and carried out road work for the Highways Board, Mr. Fletcher said. A Government with a well-opened eye to the public interest would insist on private enterprise being given the opportunity of quoting for all major works in competition with the Government departments. The Go%-ernment would he faced with a great responsibility in seeing that the unemployment fund was administered to the best advantage. The Government needed the strength to say that no payment should be made except for service rendered and to discourage reliance on unemployment funds by requiring, as a condition of relief, service on works at a rate of pay something less than the basic wage. A large part of the money available should bo used to subsidise employment on farms, clearing ground and bringing large areas into profitable use. Production would greatly increase while low prices would not necessarily be harmful as long as the necessary adjustments were made to meet changing conditions. Similarly, a well-opened eye and a wellopened purse to all sound enterprise must be the policy of business men. The principle of trading by non-tax paying organisations was criticised by Mr. Fletcher. He said that trading by organisations, such as local bodies and cooperative dairy companies, meant that the profits of the companies, from which the State must draw its revenues, were being slowly dissipated. "Legislation must he passed to bring within the net of the tax-gatherer all organisations which indulge in trade," said Mr. Fletcher.