“FALLING ALL THE TIME.”

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20455, 7 November 1934, Page 6

“FALLING ALL THE TIME.”

Standard of Living in England.

Making a denial of statements that prosperity is returning to England, the Rev K. F. Saunders, of London, in an address last night, supported his contention by stating that a quarter of the people of the British Isles were living on the dole or some other form of charity, and the standard of living was falling all the time. The speaker said he had been amazed at the reports circulating in New Zealand that the world was in process of recovery and that there was little unemployment in England. Mr Saunders added that he lived in one of the most prosperous parts of England—Richmond, just outside London —and even there 5000 of a population of 30,000 were unemployed. What recovery there was was financial. That was through inflation and the bills would come in.

The world’s money was all *' producer credit ** from industry. As production increased while wages and dividends went down, there could be only one end to it. It would be impossible to sell the goods. In England it was impossible to get the unemployed back into industry. Mr Saunders quoted instances to show how labour was being eliminated by modern machinery. Men were markets, so who was going to buy the output of those machines? The solution was the issue of “ consumer credit,” which meant simply to finance the consumer so that he could purchase the products of the machine age. The community had a right to the products of scientific invention which had cut down employment. The credit should be distributed to the extent of the undistributed surplus of goods. Such a change would end poverty. It was the only way out. Social credit was not inflation, because there was no rise in prices to accompany the issue of additional money. All this was quite simple, but it required the Governments to regain control of their credit systems. Mr Saunders was thanked for his address by Mr D. C. Davie, who presided.