The Daily News MONDAY, MARCH 13, 1933. THE SESSION AND AFTER

Taranaki Daily News, 13 March 1933, Page 6

The Daily News

MONDAY, MARCH 13, 1933. THE SESSION AND AFTER

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The session qf Parliament which closed last week is one which is chapter in the history of the likely o mark a momentous Dominion. It began last September when hope of better prices for New Zealand exports was still justified, particularly in view of the results anticipated from the Empire economic conference at Ottawa. The session had to face the special legislation which arose from the Ottawa proceedings, and consideration of this was also commenced in a spirit of optimism which allowed it—with one notable exception, the Central Bank Bill—to be placed on the Statute Book with little more than formal opposition within Parlialiament and some misgivings among the secondary industries outside the Legislature. Other than the “Ottawa” legislation the session from September to December was mostly marking time. It is history now that meanwhile conditions rapidly worsened. Wool showed a very slight recovery in price; meat recovered after the drastic remedy of restricting exports had been applied to prevent an unmanageable glut in the London market; dairy produce continued to fall in price and cheese exports in reputation as well. With these disappointments there came appeals to the Government to assist the primary producer by inflating local currency. The Do-

minion knows the story of the Government first rejecting and then accepting that policy, even though it entailed the resignation of the Minister of Finance, Mr. W. Downie Stewart. The second part of the session has been almost wholly occupied with measures arising out of the Government’s changed financial policy. That policy. has met fierce opposition, and it has yet to be tested in the furnace of experience, Its immediate effect has been a heavy increase in taxation, compulsory reduction in interest on Government and local body debt domiciled in the Dominion, and the debasing of New Zealand currency by 25 per cent The best that can be said of this far-reaching legislation is that it comprises emergency measures designed to meet un-heard-of conditions and that Parliament has supported the Government in the experiments the legislation involves. For the moment controversy has ended, and the Dominion has now to accommodate itself to the conditions brought about by the new legislation and ■ circumstances oversea which are beyond its control.' In order to do so New Zealand requires a long rest from further Parliamentary interference with trade, industry and finance. The Dominion has been asked to discard principles and practice that seemed almost immutable, and to accept in their place methods which time alone can show to be wise or otherwise. To give these new plans a chance of success there must be a cessation of further attempts to mould the economic life of the Dominion by political agencies. The country knows that with no further legislative demands it has been set the most difficult task in its career if its solvency is to be maintained. Provided the worst is now apparent and there will be no violent change in policy, the new economic conditions can be tackled with resolution, even if optimism is hard to find. Since Christmas the feeling in regard to Parliament has been “What next?” and in such uncertainty steady effort to improve the economic life of the Dominion has been almost impossible. A rest from fresh legislation is not only desirable; it is imperative if the commercial and financial life of New. Zealand is to have any chance of recovery. One thing the community does demand from the Ministry. It is that economy in administration shall be its watchword. It is a phase of economic recovery upon which little was said in the voluble Parliamentary session which has just ended. Upon the private life of the Dominion economy has been forced by the logic of circumstance. That logic ought to apply with equal force to those in charge of the national purse. If the Government will treat economy as its primary duty and continue its exercise unflinchingly the community will gladly see its efforts absorbed in that direction rather than upon the production of new legislation of which the Dominion has had a surfeit.