NEW ZEALAND'S FUTURE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22726, 12 May 1937, Page 15

NEW ZEALAND'S FUTURE

Sir, —Mr. Carey J. Carrington's letter in the Hehald of May 8 on New Zealand's future is informative as to what New Zealand may expect from the capitalistic development of Latin America, but his final paragraph, "Then it will be fully realised by all the people that our exports comprise our economic life blood," will not bear the searchlight of calm logic. The same reasoning is propounded by various prominent men who persist in pedling the same economic fallacy that New Zealand cannot exist without the Home markets. Mr. F. W. Doidgo is under challenge at the moment to debate on the public platform this selfsame debatable point. Of course, he will not accept the challenge—it is one thing to make platitudinous references to Empire trade, and another thing to stand up to a barrage of clear thinking and plain speaking. The governor of the Reserve Bank made a statement in his one and only report to shareholders. It read: "If all the markets of the' world were suddenly closed to our principal exports .no amount of monetary manipulation vould save the country from disaster." Wo know that Great Britain spends £200,000,000 yearly in the purchase of imported foodstuffs, and is literally half-starved at that. The contention is that if Great Britain refused to buy our foodstuffs dear old New Zealand would starve to death. We really should die laughing at ourselves. At present our exports greatly exceed our imports by many millions in value and Mr. Nash has made the statement in London that we are going to use the .surplus value to purchase British goods. Quite so, but first abolish the exchange rate to enable us to make greater use of British products. We should obtain goods to the full value of our exports, and if the payment by goods is not forthcoming we would be no worse off if we dumped the whole of our surplus exports into the sea. We never get anything for them. The head office merely writes to the branch office and says in effect, "We have credited your account with the value of the real goods which you sent us, so kindly debit - our account in your books for a like amount." Any remaining surplus after payment of our obligations should be used in reduction of the national debt, of which £17,000,000 falls due in 1940. Governments can no longer sit around and argue and debate and not act; things are getting too critical for that. We want action, and our present Government is certainly showing some movement. If in the past years we have appeared at times too critical of our leaders, it is not because we are naturally faultfinding; it is because we become impatient at our leaders for not accepting the stupendous opportunities available to them. E. Watson.