THINKING MEN NEEDED

Taranaki Daily News, 7 August 1930, Page 6

THINKING MEN NEEDED

PARLIAMENT ECONOMICS PROBLEMS FOR EXPERT OPINION. VALUE OF ADVISORY COMMITTEE'S. (Special Correspondent.) Wellington, Aug. 5. There is no gainsaying the fact that economic problems, in contrast with prewar times, far transcend in importance the purely political issues of the day. We have but to turn to the measures that have already been introduced into our own Parliament to realise the truth of this. The Unemployment Bill with its flat tax of 30s is pure economies. For weeks past, and even before Parliament was in session, people concentrated thinking and talking about unemployment and its economic causes, its remedies and its possible palliatives. The Budget, with its proposals to increase taxation burdens and its alleged economies, is fundamentally a big problem in economics. We unconsciously and by force of habit have me to regard our Parliament as the thinking machine of the nation, and there was justification for the belief while Parliament had to deal with purely political matters; but .the two. facts that in these days economic problems dominate political, and that democratic parliaments are not suited for their handling, have long ago received recognition in many countries, of which Germany with her Economic Parliament provides the most conspicu-ous-example. Even in Britain this has ■ been-.Recognised, for the MacDonald .Govv '.erpmentJias appointed an. Economic Advisory.'Gouncil.' This is new machinery •to h,elpi.the Government, and the Legislature. The Commonwealth Government has Requisitioned the services of Sir Otto Niemeyer, a high official of the Bank of •) England- and formerly associated with: the British Treasury, to advise it apparently on one phase of the economic:' problem, that of exchange on London.

' But. Australia is not a very satisfactory example, for the Commonwealth has had an exhaustive report from the British Economic Commission, which was specially invited .to examine into Australia’s economic conditions, and has also had the considered opinion of Sir Ernest Harney, who was at the time of his visit: to Australia Comptroller of the Bank of England, and is now a director of that institution. It is probable that the Scullin Government will be obliged to take notice of Sir Otto, for that Government requires £30,000,000, which will probably be granted by the Bank of England, but under stringent conditions, No, one claiming sanity would contend that the Parliament ,of New Zealand, as it exists to-day is a competent thinking: machine to deal with , the subtle and .complicated economic problems that, confront the world to-day. Our Parliament is merely an enlarged local body, and there are many members of local bodies much more. competent to deal with financial and economic problems than any member of the. present Parliament. The only outstanding gesture;, that- can bo credited to .this Parliament is that members voted tiiemselycs an. additional £lOO, and that without the least shame. The,members entered . the ■;House knowing tliat the salary was £-150 a year, yet in defiance of that . unwritten contract they voted themselves a. lump sum. A few days ago the Minister of Lands, the lion. E. A. Ransom-, who is a prominent cog in our thinking machine, when defending the Budget displayed considerable ignorance of economics and persisted 1 in ’ regarding the effect as the cause. ' In the course of his speech he said; ‘‘l- have it on reliable' information that last year no less a sum than £lO,0(i0,000 : -went from New Zealand t'o -Aus- : tralia for investment'. That is a serious matter ' to the primary industries, the secondary industrics and the workers of the Dominion. What is the advantage, to thfe-Dbmhiion ’if we borrowed' niohey iir- iWndorf- to 'develop' this country if

£10,000,000 goes across to Australia ?” The money that went across to Australia was earned and saved, and it was sent across the Tasman Sea because it could be more profitably invested than in the primary or secondary industries of the Dominion. Fortunately there are no tariff barriers, halting the movements of credit, which is extremely liquid and democratic, recognising no country, race, colour or creed. When one of the principal cogs in the thinking machines talks in this loose manner what must we think of the rest? An Economic Advisory Board is badly need-, ed in New Zealand.