PROBLEMS OF TO-DAY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 75, Issue 178, 30 July 1932, Page 5

PROBLEMS OF TO-DAY

A MINISTERIAL REVIEW SELF-HELP THE SOLUTION. FOOD FOR THOUGHT. WELLINGTON, July 28. Many problems of tno day were reviewed by the Minister of Labour (the Hou. A. Hamilton) at the Winter Reception of the Y.M.C.A. last night. The solution of tho majority, said the Minister, lay in courage and self-help, and the encouragement of the spirit of independence among young and old, who were too prone to make demands on others and on the State. Welcoming Mr. Hamilton, the president (Mr. R. £l. Nimmo) said that be was carrying perhaps tne heaviest burden of any Minister at the moment. He expressed his appreciation of the practical sympathy shown by Mr. Hamilton with the efforts of the Y.M.C.A. and al] other efforts to relieve the situation throughout New Zealand. The Minister said that he had always looked on the YTM.C.A. as one of the leavens which helped to keep society on the right lines. Without such organisations there was the danger that society might readily become corrupt. He stressed the value of residence in similar institutions, recalling his own four years’ experience in Knox College, Dunedin. He doubted whether anything had stood to him throughout a wide experience in life like those four years of residence. New Problems. Many of the problems confronting us were peculiar to our own day. Many were attempting to diagnose them and suggest remedies, but previous experience was no guide whatever to some of them. The first problem of the day was financial. “I do not know,” said M». Hamilton, “whether we have not our minds too much on money. I am inclined to think this is too much of a money age, and that our minds are set chiefly on it. Money tastes and psychology have been developed. The Labour Party to-day sometimes say that the capitalistic system is wrong. Although I do not belong to the Labour Party I must give credence to the fact that the capitalistic system seems to have gone wrong. It is not working out as we would all like it to work out. The Labour Party say that the Socialistic method must be brought in. Certainly the old standard seems to have shifted its ground.” Shifting Standards. Standards, said Mr. Hamilton, were fine things to work to, but when an attempt was made to set up a standard of values, it was found that gold seemed to have moved. There was none of the comforting certainty about it that was associated with a pound weight or a yard measure; in fact a moving standard was not a standard at all. Although gold has stood as a standard for many years it seemed to have let them down. Gold and currency were problems that Ottawa might be discussing at the moment, as an effort was to be made to set up an Empire currency. There were some who said that a central banking system wanted. Exchange was another problem, but all these were all matters in which it was difficult to see the other person’s point of view. “If you are not losing money to-day. you are fortunate,’’ he said. “I do not know if it does not do some of us a little good to lose money.” A friend had told him, “Just as the money goes, and the poorer you become, your happiness will increase.” There was something in it, because then one might realise how much better off one was than some people. It was a fine thing to meet people who were happy in adversity, which might bring out better virtues than prosperity. 3?rice Levels and Tariffs. Text books were no guide in the economic problem, or at least only those which were written up to date. One of the great economic problems to-day was that of price levels. Why were some things cheaper to-day than they were some years ago, such as wool? Had gold shifted, or had wool shifted? There were just as many people in the world, but tlie world level of prices had fallen. There was the world price level, and tho New Zealand price level, and the relationship of values was al ways changing. It was a problem that the world’s thinkers had not solved to date. Tariffs constituted another problem for Ottawa. Freedom of trade within the Empire might be to our advantage, indeed it mighj; be to the in terest of tho world to knock down th ' tariff walls. Then there was the questio nof interest. Our national debts were very heavy when price levels had fallen and the money debt remained the same. “I would like to talk on tho problem of land values,” he said. “It is little understood from tho right point of view, and it is a problem on which more fallacies have been presented than any other, but this is not the time to speak of it.” Social Problems. Turning to social problems, the Minister said that it seemed like a time of levelling. It seemed that the poor would be rich, and the rich would be poor. The man who had the least worry was he with the small farm free of debt. He had his wife, at least the wireless, and enough to eat, and could make the best of it. The social problem, in fact, was such as the world had never experienced, and it was not peculiar to New Zealand. It was pathetic to-day to hear of people who ; through no fault of their own had become caught in the grip of unemploy ment, and it was the bouuden duty of all who could to help. The problem of mental defectives was another serious one. Nearly all the mental hospitals were full. Perhaps not enough attention was paid to mental defectives. They should start with fundamentals, and he was rather of the opinion that there were some people who would have been bet loff if they had not been born at all. It was a problem one could not talk much about, but one requiring serious attention. Parents’ Responsibilities. The outlook for young people was serious. Young men and women had left school prepared for jobs in life, but the jobs were not there. In the Lost and Telegraph Department they had not taken on a young man or woman for eighteen months. Magnify that by all the other businesses in New

Zealand, and they could sec the extent of the problem. Whose was the re sponsibility? It was threefold. The State had a responsibility, and th' 1 foundations must be laid so that young men and women could lit into the social organisation and find a livelihood. But the State could not do it all. There was a big responsibility on the parents to provide suitable jobs for the children, and they could not be released from tho responsibility of arranging things so that the young p<o pie could make openings for themselves. Tt was a great time for them to strike out for themselves, as did the young people in tho old days, and they would thus gain the sj.irit of in-

t | dependence, developing traits of char- ■- I actor that, would stand to them. Ba.?; to Simpler Life. c Though more had been found out in - science in the last, thirty years than t for a century, there were, though it i was a mechanical ago, still plenty of s opportunities for young men and « women starting out to-day, and our - heritage must be passed on unimpaired. People were too much inclined to de- - mand rights from each other and from i the State. “Let us give more duty to I others and to the State, and we will 1 get on much better. Instead of thinking of those who are better off. let

us think of those who are worse off, and we will be satisfied. Many people do not know how well off they are. They need the lessons of adversity to make them think. We must try to get back to a simpler life, and 1 think we will all enjoy life more,” concluded Mr. Hamilton. In moving a vote of thanks to the Minister, Mr. W. Appleton said that tho Minister had said much that would make them think.