THE RESERVE BANK BILL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23471, 7 October 1939, Page 15

THE RESERVE BANK BILL

c; r —The proposals contained in the Reserve Bank Amendment Bill constitute the worst blow that ha» jjtbeen levelled against tho safety and stability of the currency system of this country. In this bill it is proposed that a\ e shall scrap our present well-tried system, and wo are to havo foisted upon us a policy which other countries have proved to be a failure, and which will make our national currency the mere plaything of party politics. . If the bill now under discussion becomes law, the Government will have powers over finance equivalent to those enjoyed by the Governments of other and older totalitarian Sfates. The methods that aro being followed, step by step, in New Zealand bear a rcma ably close res6mblance to those which have been put into operation by the leader* of the Nazi Party. Why is it that, 111 Isew Zealand, under the cloak of war emergency, we have to adopt measures that havo not been thought necessary in England, where the financial burden is far heavier and where the war strain is far 11101 e real and intense?, Whenever and wherever political conditions have been allowed to dominate entirely the financial policy of a country, inflation of ono kind or another has followed, with disastrous consequences to the people, and, in particular, to those with the smallest incomes. , Under the provisions of this bill, tile Government will ho entirely free to disregard the advice of men with a lifetime of experience; it will be able to rely upon its printing presses and to issue paper money whenever and to whatever extent it pleases. The alterations now propped in our banking system are neither necessary nor desirable as a means of meeting tho emergencies created by the war. They are capable of being explained only 011 tho basis that it is the fixed and determined policy of the Government to socialise this countiy at the earliest possible date. Everyone expected that party politics would be left in the background during the period of hostilities, and yet we find that the legislation of this present week, dealing with marketing and with finance, lias practically completed every portion of the Labour Party's programme of socialisation, and has done nearly all that was necessary to bring New Zealand into the circle of totalitarian States. Before last election, Labour Party leaders bitterly resented and denied the suggestion that they were out to destroy private enterprise and to substitute Socialism for it. Yet, to-day, under the pretext of war emergency, these are the very changes that are being introduced as a permanent part of oiir economic life. Warning after warning has been given, and if the people of this country accept these radical changes without protest, they will inevitably discover that the road back from Socialism will be a difficult, if not impossible one. R. M. Ai.gie.