IMPORT CONTROL POLICY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23284, 1 March 1939, Page 14

IMPORT CONTROL POLICY

INTEREST IN AUSTRALIA HEALTH SCHEMES COMPARED [BY TELEGRAPH —OWN CORRESPONDENT] WELLINGTON, Tuesday "Wherever I went in Australia I found the keenest interest in New Zealand's import control policy," said Mr. H. Elliott, of Wellington, who returned from Sydney by the Awatea this morning after a business trip to the Commonwealth. "It is looked upon as an experiment that lias yet to be proved, and if it fails Australians believe it will show that the polic3 T was either wrong in principle or improperly applied. "1 also heard many references to our social security legislation, especially when it was announced that the Fedeial Government had decided not to proceed with the Australian health insurance scheme. The people's attitude toward that scheme was indicated by the poor reception given the loam to finance it. I was told that the general feeling was that Australia, faced with heavy expenditure for defence, simply could not afford the added burden of financing the insurance scheme.

"Many people compared the Australian scheme with the New Zealand scheme, and said that the former was only a bubble beside what New Zealand proposed to do. They said that if the Dominion could finance social security plan successfully then it must be a very wonderful country indeed."