Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, THURSDAY, APRIL 10, 1930. ECONOMIC GENERAL STAFF

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17231, 10 April 1930, Page 4

Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, THURSDAY, APRIL 10, 1930. ECONOMIC GENERAL STAFF

In tli** critical period of the Great War it was found accessary to set up a. Committee of Imperial Defence to combine and co-ordinate the nation's resources. This wise step, together with the indomitable spirit of the people, did much to save Britain from disastrous defeat. The nation is still passing through perilous times, and it becomes- more and more obvious that the conservation and better utilisation of national resources is necessary to avert economic distress. With this end in view the British Government has set up an Economic Council to direct the nation's productive energies. The idea was first suggested by Bir William Beveridge, head of the London School of Economics, who urged that specialists accustomed to deal with economic problems be marshalled and organised into an economic general staff, always available to advise the Government of the day. Necessarily the staff would have to be constituted on non-party lines; but this was regarded as no obstacle. In fact the success of the Imperial Defence Committee, which had been organised on just such lines, and had been in existence for years showed the plan to be quite feasible. Mr. Ramsay MacDonald thought luglfty of the proposal, and soon after his return to office gave a luncheon at Downing •Street to a number of outstanding economists and business men, and the plan of organising a national economic committee was discussed, with the result that a scheme was evolved under which a few*weeks ago the Economic General Staff, as it has been termed, was set up. The proposal is to tackle the unemployment problem in a scientific way. Unemployment, il is regarded, will not simply pass away: it must be driven out. Prosperity will not just return; it must be recreated. The experts, business and professional, will survey the economic field, both at home and abroad, and give the, Government the benefit of their advice. The problem, like that of defence, will be taken out of the party arena—at any rate that is the ideal. The task is great and difficult, but happily, remarks the Observer, the new Council is a strong body, representative of all factors in modern business life, and it is fortunate in the quality of its staff. The main lines of its work are clear before it. It is agreed on all hands that the secret of industrial and commercial revival is what is commonly called “rationalisation," with its suggestion, on the one hand, of rationing available work, and, on the other, of the rational exploitation of possibilities. In this vital matter Britain hitherto has been hampered by the spirit of sturdy individualism, which, rightly directed, will help people to adjust themselves to the new conditions, but which too often in the past has stood in the way of industrial and commercial expansion. “But at long last," says the Observer, “we have learnt our lesson. We know that Britain is not exempt from the common economic lot, that she, like other states, must concentrate her enterprises, and that the djiy of the small parcel business is definitely over." The first and most immediate concern of (he new advisory body is a diminution of unemployment, and it is held that present temporising methods of dealing with the matter must be abandoned. Dole and discontent have become symonymous, and it is claimed that by the present system England is pauperising its people to the tune of £80,000,000 a year. This immense sum if devoted to creative work would yield enormous results. “Let us at least realise what we arc doing," writes Mr. Garvin. “We are spending millions in ‘muddling through’—towards nothing. Our effort is failing because there is no purpose behind if. There is even a touch of despair in our policy of pensioning off older men, rich in experience and still full of capacity for work. Other nations are building up resources with an eye to the future; we are swelling the total of useless mouths so that Britain will soon be last amongst (hi* countries of the world in the proportion of workers to population. That way lies, if not ruin at least the utter loss of our great place among the nations. We know it and yet go on because there is no on** to show us the belter way. There lies the new Council’s chance, and it is sincerely to be hoped it will be inspired to seize it." New Zealand will watch with interest the working of this experiment of an economic general staff. From time to time we have attempted to secure “more business in government" by the appointment of Ministers conversant with commercial and industrial enterprises, and occasionally Royal Commissions are set up to investigate various economic problems and advise the Government. One such, dealing specifically with unemployment, has recently completed its labors and presented a very disappointing report, devoid of any suggestions for really effect iv> remedies. Another, with greater

promise, is investigating economic matters, but is meeting with some difficulty owing to the refusal of certain interests to lend the necessary co-operation. Whether an economic general staff composed of experts and scientists would be able to get more deeply to the root of things and devise practical measure for the development of industries, extension of the Dominion’s field of commerce, and the abatement of unemployment, it is difficult. lo say, but the results of the English endeavors to find a solution of economic ills, at any rate, will be watched with interest.