MR BURNETT’S CALL FOR ACTION

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19836, 27 June 1934, Page 4

MR BURNETT’S CALL FOR ACTION

MR BURJNJSI.L o U-rt.ju.Li run nunun To the Editor of " The Timaru Herald ’’ Sir, —Mr Burnett’s article on solving the nation’s problems makes very interesting reading, and we know from past experiences that Mr Burnett is quite willing to give a lead in the great work of rehabilitating South Canterbury and solving its unemployment problem. This being so, the sooner the leaders of the district get together in conference with him the better. The present unemployment scheme is wasteful in the extreme, and it is giving satisfaction to np one. What man or woman amongst • us would mind being taxed for the relief of unemployment, if we could see around us evidence of special work done; concrete bridges, also roads of the same material, buildings of public utility, such as hospitals, schools, halls, libraries, etc. One of our great men suggested a week or two ago that the unemployed be engaged to build a concrete road from one end of New Zealand to the other. This was, indeed, a concrete proposal, but he pointed out that this class of work entailed practically no expense outside of New Zealand, 90 per cent, of the whole cost of such a scheme being labour. The materials for concrete are everywhere, just lying wasting. All that is needed is a master mind, to organise the thing.

The first thing this master mind would be up against would be, what Mr Burnett refers to as the silly propagandist, teaching that all work is V’age slavery. There is no doubt that for some 40 years past the labour agitator and propagandist have gone from strength to strength. Discontents have arrived in New Zealand from other lands. They have come to help strikers, or to make new strikes to order. Some of these have become voices in our favoured land. Still many of us believe that many of the accepted doctrines of these men are really false, and in the end lead nowhere. These great agitators have in 30 years trebled the workers’ wages, but unfortunately with the rise in wages, also comes the inevitable rise in commodities, food, clothing and housing. Thirty years ago a man paid about one-sixth of his wages for a roof over his head or his home; to-day the privilege of living in a very ordinary house costs him at least one third of his “screw.” The worker of to-day seldom bothers to think who pays his wages, so long as they are paid in generous quantity. When he demanded and received a rise in wages, he should have demanded that the boss did not put that increase in wages on to the manufactured goods. If he had taken this step, wages would never have got so high, and the ultimate fall would not have been so great. This giving of more wages, and still more wages, has had the effect of ruining the bulk of our primary producers, and unfortunately with the ruin of these, ultimately will come the ruin of everyone else. If you had a goose laying golden eggs, you would feed that goose, so that it might lay more and still more golden eggs. That would, of course, be only commonsense. But presumably there is not a great quantity of this commodity about. The man who tells you to help balance the farmer’s budget and that your own budget will then balance itself, would be talking just plain cbmmonsense. But he would have few listeners.

Mr Burnett in his article lays great stress on the popular cry that “it’s the State’s job.” The State has become the milch cow for all sorts and conditions of people. Where does the State get its wealth from? It used to borrow it in England, and that is where the trouble started. Much money to lend in England and much hunger for it in New Zealand. Now our land has been mortgaged to the hilt, and our children and their children will have to keep on paying taxes for the good times their forebears enjoyed. I heard a man ask Mr Burnett the other day, if he did not think the time had arrived to ask our creditors to write off some of our national debt? The hard-working 12 to 14 hour a day farmer has had to do it. and he has not relished the job. But it does seem impossible on our present prospects to balance the budget these without causing undue hardship through excessive taxation. An article issued by the Associated Chambers of Commerce recently, stated that of our wages 22i per cent, went in taxation. I have heard since that the correct figure is more like 45 per cent., many having to give about six months’ labour, or half of their year’s earnings, to help pay the national debt, and the cost f governing the country. It is a pretty state of affairs. This is causing the general dissatisfaction, yet the weary, work-worn and dissatisfied public servants, are crying for more and more. This can only be given by increased taxation, which they are hoping the other fellow will pay. I notice Mr Burnett fixes the standard wage at 9/- a day for his schemes. I have been expecting a howl of protest about this, but the old ones know full well that we were better off in the 51- a day period than we are to-day at 12/-. At the lower standard of wages, many more men could be employed and a hundred more industries could be started. Our wool could be made into cloth and exported in the finished state; our hides made into leather, perhaps boots. Why should a factory worker from England demand more wages in New Zealand, than he received in the old country? The answer is simple: It costs him more to live in New Zealand. Many of who have had experience in both lands, are satisfied that the average standard of living is higher in New Zealand than it is at Home. In spite of lower wages— Japan works on a record low-wage system—but to the Japanese the standard of living is equal or better than our own. It is high time that our workers thought along these lines. High wages do not necessarily mean high living; certainly the greater the wages the greater the wealth of the capitalist. Increased spending power of the workers may not mean more money in circulation. Confidence is always the most vital factor in keeping money in circulation. I sincerely hope that the wise men and leaders of the people in South Canterbury will sink their differences, plan out this new job and provide work for every willing man. Let the wasters waste away, but for heaven’s sake end for all time the present debasing and wasteful methods in vogue to-day.—l am, etc., NIL DESPERANDUM.