POLITICAL TESTAMENT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 March 1940, Page 5

POLITICAL TESTAMENT

MR SAVAGE’S LAST MESSAGE TO PARTY READ BY DEPUTY-PREMIER. SURVEY & DEFENCE OF POLICY. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. . “We are accused by some people of being too cautious and of going too slowly; others say we have gone too far and too fast-,’’ said the Deputy-Prime Minister, Air. Fraser, when he read to the twenty-fourlh annual conference of the New Zealand Labour Party at the Centennial Exhibition yesterday the report of the Parliamentary Parl.v.

This report would have been presented by the Primo Minister. Mr Savage, had his health permitted, and it would have been the fifth occasion on which he had done so. The statement, though read to the conference by Mr Fraser, is that of Mr Savage. "Speaking for the Cabinet, thy members of which have been directly concerned with administration and have had to grapple with the many and complex problems as they arose, I say that, we have done the very best we could, and I am not prepared to apologise for any of our actions,” said Mr Fraser, on Mr Savage's behalf.

“We have had to make the best of a difficult situation, and I would like for a moment or two to discuss this aspect. First of all, this matter of going too slowly and too cautiously. In my opinion, to have behaved rashly and to have jeopardised our opportunity to make solid gains for the working people, would have been nothing short of criminal. We could only take risks at the expense of the wage earner and the men and women on the lowest income groups. They are always the first to suffer in time of crisis. Those were the people we came in primarily to help, and so long as I am Prime Minister I am not willing to do anything which is calculated to put them back in the position they found themselves in from 1932 to 1935.

r*By proceeding with due caution, and. I suggest, with remarkable speed, the lot of the wage earner has been bettered to an extent never before experienced in this country, and I believe in most other countries in the world. FRIENDS & ENEMIES. “I will have something more to say about the opposition of our friends later, but I would like to refer first of all to the proposition of our enemies. I need not remind members of the Labour Party of the various means by which our opponents have attempted to sabotage our policy. It is inevitable that a Labour Government should meet with opposition from the vested interests it is pledged to curb. In every country where a Parliamentary Labour Party has gained control, financial and business interests have seen to it that the public credit is weakened and the Labour Government is attacked, and, if possible, ruined by such means. "New Zealand has been no exception to this rule, and during 1937 and 1938 the unscrupulous use of money almost succeeded in wrecking the welfare of the people of,the Dominion. It became necessary to institute exchange control in order to stop the flight of capital deliberately engineered by financial interests opposed to Labour’s policy.

RESULTS OF EXCHANGE CONTROL. "This typo of opposition was ,of course, not confined to New Zealand, but. was indeed carried into the main financial market of the world. I am glad to say that these actions have been successfully combated. After exchange control had been in operation for 12 months the overseas funds rose from £6,800.00(1 to £15,000,000, and as a result, of import restrictions the excess of our exports over our imports trebled in the same period, rising from' £2.900,000 to £8,600,000.

"We could justly say that the results have been good, but we are not claiming that they could not be bettered. Indeed, there is still much room for improvement, ft should always be borne in mind, however, that while we are engaged in creating a new society we are al. the-same time administering an old one we have inherited. We must needs take things as they are till we can change them. "We have attempted to cope with the unemployment problem, which will not solve itself, by long scale plans. We realise lhe permanent nature of unemployment under the capitalist system. It can not be regarded as a question. of providing subsistence to people temporarily out of work, but rather of society absorbing surplus labour in socially useful ways at rates of pay consistent with those enjoyed by the rest of the community.

"Though lhe evils of poverty and unemployment have not yet been eliminated. conditions are vastly better and the worst hardships have been abolished. Broadly speaking, wo have tackled the problem in three ways—first bv raising the national income: secondly by increasing the workers’ share of that national income; and thirdly by ensuring that the worker shall be secure in his gains. PRODUCTION AND INCOME. “Since Labour took office the national income has increased in the most striking manner. This is perhaps best borne out by the figures for production. In 1935 the value of production was £97.000.000; in 1939 it had risen to £136,000.000. The average over the past three years has been steadily maintained at about £136,000.000. Between 1935 and 1939 the aggregate private income increased from £105.000.000 to approximately £174.000.000. an increase of some 66 per cent.

“All this has been due in part to an improvement in prices for our primary produce. It lias also been due directly to the policy of the Labour Government in increasing purchasing

power and in passing various measures designed lo stimulate primary and secondary production. In the field of primary production we have taken steps to give the farmers a stable income by means of guaranteed prices for various products and subsidies. We have also reduced the farmers’ costs, notably by means of reductions in mortgage indebtedness to the extent of nearly £10,000,000.

SECONDARY INDUSTRIES. “In the field of secondary industries we have undertaken steps which are probably of greater significance than apy other measures taken in lhe history of manufacturing in this country. In order to redress the balance of our economy, wo have undertaken to promote in an effective way the growth of manufacturing in New Zealand. The most outstanding measures in this regard have been import restrictions imposed in 1938.

“Statistics of manufacturing leave no doubt about the results of our policy. Today there are 876 more factories than there were in 1935, an increase of 16 per cent. They produce goods worth £114.000,000 which is 44 per cent, more in value than they produced. four years ago. Employment is found for over 23.000 more workers in our factories, compared with 1935. Factory wages increased from £1.3,000.000 to £22.000.000—a 68 per cent increase. The capital invested, as represented by the value of the fixed assets, increased by £9.250,000. Of this, £3,750,000 occurred last year. Another figure of interest is net incomes of companies. These increased from £12.1 million in 1936 lo £20.6 million in 1939 —an increase of 70 per cent.

MORE PRODUCTION NEEDED. “Despite these various increases the national income, which is only another name for the total nroduction of goods and services, is still insufficient. We need to go on producing more goods and services if the consumption needs of the community are to be met in full, and if the standard of living is not to fall.

"The second important aspect has undoubtedly been the redistribution ol the national income in a more just and a more equitable maimer. In 1935 wages and salaries amounted to £66,000,000; in 1940 they amounted to

more than .C 110.000.000. an increase of more than £44.000.01)0. "At the same time pensions have been increased and unemployment relief rales have been vastly improved.

"Thirdly there is the question of social security. Perhaps I could best sum up the benefits of Labour’s administration by comparing the conditions of poverty in 1935 witli the state of affairs existing today. In 1935 we had sou)) kitchens, old clothes drives, widespread malnutrition, bad housing and hospital relief. In 1940 there are 150.000 people receiving £11.000,000 a year in cash benefits under Labour’s social security schemes. These benefits cover tlie aged, the widowed, invalids, orphans, those witli large families, unemployed and war pensions. I would also remind you that universal superannuation liegins this coming financial year. In addition there are maternity and hospital benefits." The report was unanimously adopted.