8.—6.

1936. NEW ZEALAND.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT. (In Committee of Supply, 4th August, 1936.) BY THE HON. WALTER NASH, MINISTER OF FINANCE.

Mr. Chairman,' — The election campaign which concluded on 27th of last year followed extraordinary difficulties to primary producers owing to fall in prices, and consequential over-mortgaged land. This was associated with cuts in salaries and pensions, and reduced votes for education, health, and other social seivices, and unprecedented unemployment. The election policy of the present Government affirmed that New Zealand s trade and marketing policies would best serve the people of the Dominion, the nations in the British Commonwealth, and other countries, by putting our own production and marketing system in order. The election manifesto said that the essential procedure to give the best results to exporters, importers, producers, and consumers would be to allow production to expand so long as any important human wants remained unsatisfied, and to take the necessary steps to ensure that the expansion of production did not ruin the producer by catastrophic price-falls. This implied the relation of expanded production to sound marketing machinery with means to ensure simultaneous expansion of demand and exploration of new markets to extend sales of immediate and future production. The aim of the Government as expressed in a paragraph was and is To organize an internal economy that will distribute the production and services of the Dominion in a way that will guarantee to every pei son able and willing to work an income sufficient to provide him and his dependants with everything necessary to make a " home " and " home life " in the best sense of the meaning of those terms. To this end the Government have raised the allowances to those who are unemployed, have provided for increased rates of pay on Public Works, aie instituting the forty-hour week for industry, and have raised the wages of young people on a graduated scale so that when reaching adulthood they will automatically secure a basic wage. This basic wage is a minimum which must be paid throughout industry, and will be based on the sum required to give an adequate standard of living for a man, his wife, and three children. The amount will be fixed by the Arbitration Court, and altered from time to time to suit changing circumstances. On the side of Education it is the Government's intention to reorganize our school, college, and university systems to provide the maximum facilities for all children from the kindergarten to the university. This, however, will not be worth while unless we can also ensure that the physical needs of the child and the adult are fully provided for on the same basis as are the needs of the mind. Health services should be made as freely available as educational service.

Policy.

- • Production and marketing.

Increased wages.

Education

I—B. 6.