NO “ROYAL ROAD” TO HIGHER LIVING STANDARD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26540, 15 August 1947, Page 6

NO “ROYAL ROAD” TO HIGHER LIVING STANDARD

“ How often do we hear the statement we have won the war and we must now set ourselves to win the peace? We did win the war but are we winning the peace?” asked the president of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce, Mr C. J. Wood, in his address at the annual meeting last night. “We retreated from the Maginot Line along the long road to El Alamein, but what was really happening in the background? Through the effort of our civillians and of our scientists, reserves were steadily being built up for the time when our armies would be in a position to take the offensive and eventually win the war.”

“ Over the past two years we have been told that we are setting ourselves to win the peace,” he said. “ But how and just where do we. make the stand? Up until now the orders have been to retreat, and to-day we might well ask ourselves where are the reserves we are looking and hoping for, where and when do we make the stand? The need for guns and tanks has given place to the need for esential goods, clothing and food, and until that reserve of goods is in sight we cannot say that we are winning the peace The unrest in the world to-day cannot merely be ascribed to the aftermath of war; we must admit and appreci- : ate that we are passing through a social revolution, and whether we like it or not, we cannot throw it aside declaring that it has no concern for either you or me. Like the war through which we have passed, it must affect all and every one of us. and we must all take our part, and that part, even though not necessarily aggressive, must be definite. . , “We are being constantly reminded that the ‘ standard of living ’ of the people must be raised, that there must be ‘ full employment,’ that the ‘ fear from want must be forever removed,’ and I am sure that with all such sentiments we wholeheartedly agree. The war destroyed much, and it must be realised that the things for which our soldiers fought could not coine to us overnight. There must be a certain time lag before our peacetime objective for a higher standard of living can be achieved. “Unfortunately, however, there are certain members of our trade union movement who are endeavouring to make use of that interval to further their own ends and, through power politics, obtain from the general community something to which they are not justly entitled. There is a tendency for organised groups to believe that by exerting pressure they can get from society more than is there. They have had enough temporary success with the use of pressure to be encouraged in this belief. It is perfectly true that any one group can, for a time, get a larger share of the national income; when it does not work is when all try it at the same time. Sooner or later the pressure game will blow up in our faces unles we provide a constantly larger national income to divide up.” National Income Statistics in New Zealand disclosed that the income of the people had increased from £125,000,000 in 1936 to £304,000,000 for the year ended March, 1945, continued Mr Wood. That was an increase in terms of money currency, but did not in any way give an indication of the standard of living of the people. That standard could only be measured in terms of goods produced that were available and could be purchased by that money. The Reserve Bank, through the printing press, had created and could create that money. It had created that money for the erection of State houses, but all the money or credit created in

the world would not build one State house without the labour of its people.

“After-war conditions in the world are emphasising the inexorable' fact that there is no royal road to a high general standard of living," he said. “ Mankind will only be prosperous and comfortable and generally well off in 'accordance with the degree in which mankind earns these rewards of labour by skill and industry. In recent years there has been a more equitable scheme of distribution, but the simple fact, remains that there can be no raising of the standard of living if there is a shortage of goods to be distributed, and such a shortage can only be avoided by an increased output. No amount of manipulation of the currency. no increase in wages will bring any benefit to the people as a whole unless there is a corresponding increase in production. More Strikes than Ever “Certain industrial leaders are taking advantage of the present position—shortages of goods and services—to further their own dictatorial ends, and as a result, we are experiencing more stoppages of work, more strikes than ever before in the history of our country. Strikes represent nothing more than man hours of production lost, and whether the strikers win or lose, the time lost in money value must eventually be written into the nation’s cost of production. Every strike, no matter of what duration, means a lowering of our standard of living. “•It is common knowledge to-day that great masses of men work constantly at points below their top capacities, and it is one of the jobs of management to see that the incentive is given to them to help them rise to the opportunities that should and must be made available to them through their greater effort,” Mr Wood continued. “ Goods and services can only be created by the work of the people, as one section of the people slack, so must the rest of the people suffer. If management slacks—and unfortunately through controls and restrictions of Government, I must suggest that management of recent years in certain instances has been inclined to slack—then we must all suffer. “The business world to-day is not an easy place in which to live, but it will not be made easier by merely sitting back and taking things as they come,” he said. “ That higher standard of living will only come to us by harder work and by increased effort on the part of management and worker alike. Let us sidestep the troublemakers in our midst—there are only a few of them. The majority of our workers are honest, hard-working New Zealanders, and will respond to capable management and sympathetic treatment. It is up to us to let them see that there are opportunities for advancement for them in their particular spheres of work, and particularly that it is only by their own efforts that they and their fellow workers can attain that ‘higher standard of living’ and security our men fought for in Wold War II.”