The Daily News THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1932. THE LABOUR POLICY.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 December 1932, Page 4

The Daily News

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1932. THE LABOUR POLICY.

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The leader of the Labour Party, Mr. H. E. Holland, is to be commended for having placed before the electorate the Labour policy for what he and his followers £hink would be the better government of the Dominion. It is an indication that the Labour Opposition in Parliament realises that its responsibilities go further than filling only the role of a critic, and that something more constructive is demanded by any political party which desires to convince the electors of its fitness for Ministerial authority. One could have wished that Mr'. Holland had omitted his reference to the prophecies of Ministers in regard to economic affairs. It is no time for ‘■gibes and flouts and sneers” between members of Parliament; it is rather a time when they should see how far each can agree with political opponents if any suggestion made by friend or foe seems to contain the possibility of benefiting the Dominion. The Labour policy deserves to be examined in that spirit, and to be judged accordingly. Mr. Holland considers unemployment the outstanding problem before New Zealand, and in this" he will find many who are not his followers willing to go a long way towards acceptance of his point of view. But they are likely to disagree with the Labour leader when he holds that unemployment is the cause and not the result of the economic depression. It is a wrong premise, and vitiates the argument built upon it. Leaving that for the moment, and assuming Mr. Holland’s theory correct, -what is Labour’s remedy? Transfer of relief workers to economic undertakings at standard rates of wages, is the leader’s reply. The economic undertakings he indicates are to begin with the opening up of 1,000,000 acres of Crown lands for closed settlement. Two difficulties seem to bar the way. The first is to find the million acres of suitable land. The second is to break in the land on the conditions laid down by Mr. Holland, and still sell or lease it,to settlers at a

price which will enable them to make a living from their holdings. These are two problems needing elucidation before Labour can be said to have evolved a land policy which is anything more substantial than promises. Supplementing his land policy Mr. Holland suggests “a vigorous public works policy.” Perhaps wisely, the Labour leader refrained from indicating in detail the works he had in mind. The taxpayer, however, is likely to desire very explicit information upon this point, and with good reason. Roads, railways, hydro-electric supply works and public buildings have been the main branches of State activity in public works. In regard to roads for opening up land for settlement there is undoubtedly room for as vigorous a policy as funds will permit. As regards railways there is certainly no room for large expansion, for the railway authorities frankly admit that any new lines opened are more likely to prove a drain upon the country’s finances than be a source of revenue. In hydro-elec-tric supply the Dominion has nearly reached saturation point, and here again the justification of a “vigorous policy” is hard to find. It is only fair to add that in making his proposals Mr. Holland envisions a huge increase in population. New Zealand, he says, ought to have a population of 10,000,000 instead of 1,500,000. This statement many of his opponents will heartily endorse, but only a vigorous immigration policy can bring about a rapid increase in population, and one seems to remember Mr. Holland and his friends at one‘time claiming that the cause of unemployment was the immigration, very limited at that, permitted a few years ago. Unless Labour- has seen 'the error of its ways, and until a much larger population needs public services the “vigorous public works policy” does not seem to have any merit beyond absorbing a large amount of “relief” labour at high, wages. Development of local industries and improvement of marketing methods were other points in Mr. Holland’s programme. Excellent ideals both of them, but until the Labour Party shows how they are to be brought about they must be left as such. It is Mr. Holland’s suggestions for meeting the cost of his glittering programme that will create the greatest interest. Unfortunately they are but the old, old story of payment by promissory notes dignified by the name of State currency. True, the Labour leader would have the note issue “effectively controlled”—if he could—though history is much against the possibility of the control being effective. A policy built upon wholesale borrowing is not one that can be recommended to New Zealand by those who have her true interests? at heart. Not three years ago a Labour leader named Lang won an election in a neighbouring State on a programme almost identical with that Mr. Holland now offers the Dominion. The results there were deplorable, and it was the wageearner and the struggling settler who felt the ill-effects most severely. Nhw Zealand would be foolish in the extreme to entrust its destinies to those who would indulge in a similar experiment here.