“NEW ZEAL” FOR NEW ZEALAND!

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21019, 7 May 1930, Page 23

“NEW ZEAL” FOR NEW ZEALAND!

THE REMEDY FOR UNEMPLOYMENT. , By X. Writing to hia parents by a recent mail, a Dunedin boy at present studying at Cambridge mentioned that on the previous Sunday the minister spoke several times about getting “new zeal" in one's heart, but all the time it was New Zealand that was in the hearer’s heart and mind. . Only those.who have been away from home can realise fully what home-sickness means, and to a lover of New Zealand the words “ new zeal" would inevitably bring up visions of his native land. The above suggests the heading of this article, and all lovers of New Zealand, be it their native or their adopted land, are now called upon to put “ new zeal ” into their love for it.. If one were asked to say in a few words what is the cause of unemployment in New Zealand at. the present time he might truthfully say that a great deal of unemployment is due to an overdose of importing, Our exports for the year ended March 31, 1930, were-£49,045,817, while our imports were £49,167,914. Now, Nbw Zealand might be likened to a huge trading, company—let us call ourselves “New Zealand, Ltd.” We bought from outsider* for the year ended March 31 some £122,000 more than we sold to them, and as we have < to pay every year some £6,000,000 •for interest on our loans abroad we are between £6,000,000 and £7,000,000 to the bad on the year’s transactions. Now, although we have had a bad year, the bottom has not dropped out of New Zealand; the quickest and best way to bring back prosperity is to increase production and cut down imports. There is no need to practise unreasonable economy—let us all spend the same amount this year, but let it be spent on goods made in New Zealand. ... . The cure for our surfeit of importing is the same as that recommended to a sufferer from over-eating—let us cut out all fancy foreign lines for a year or two and our indigestion will be cured. The remedy for unemployment is a twofold one—not for the Government and the public to start economising; that will only make matters worse—the Government should push in with an much reproductive work as possible _ and relieve the labour market until private enterprise can absorb its quota again, when the Government can § reduce its expenditure." Let all those who are fortunate enough to be. in good’situations with regular incomes and salaries employ as mutfii labour as possible in the necessary improvement and upkeep of their home and properties. We are all interdependent—if , the painters, plumbers, plasterers, carpenters, etc., are fully employed they have move money to spend with the shopkeepers, who in turn have more to .spend with the tradesmen. How about getting that room repapered? Now is a good time to get your bouse painted before the winter sets in! What about those additions you were speaking of—that new carpet or suite of furniture you were thinking of buying? These are questions which everyone should be asking himself and answering in. the affirmative—yes, I will do it right away! Is it. not better to spend your money oil improving and furnishing your home, thus employing labour, than to have to hand it out as a contribution to the .dole? Above all, let us see to it that our purchases as far as possible are of goods made in New Zealand. A careful examination of the displays to be seen in the shop windows this week will show that for style, quality, and price the locally-made article can hold its own against the imported.For the sake of_ their fellow-citizens, for the sake of their sons and daughters growing up and soon to be looking for work, let every mother and father determine that as far as they are concerned the year 1930 is to be a New Zealand buying year. Speaking to the writer the other day a leading retailer said that he confined his buyng as far as he could to goods made iu New Zealand. His stocks of blankets, rugs, quilts, men’s hosiery and underwear were practically all New Zealand-made, but when it came to Dame Fashion’s demands he was forced to go abroad for his wares._ The successful retailer is the one who gives the public what they want, and at'as reasonable a price as possible. He simply has to stock what the customers demand. Might we put it to the women this way —your recent appeal for the endowment of a chair at the Otago University was it made to, or supported by, the designers of your French modes and creations? vVaa it not rather addressed to the manufacmerchants, and shopkeepers of Dunedin and Otago? Now would it not be a fair thing to confine your buying to those who supported you? If every woman iu Otago decided that for the next year she would make it a habit to see that she was clad in raiment made in New Zealand what a fillip it would give to local industry, and she would look just as neat and attractive as she now docs.