THE DEPRESSION.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20102, 4 December 1930, Page 10

THE DEPRESSION.

* IS THERE A REMEDY? I ! SOiNI I*J PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS. A I.AKt.ER l>ol't.LA'H()\. 1 Ifrv Fivr AND A 1 1 Al,l" |» EH Cent.! 1 '•* •• »*-• ' S: - 1'0n1,." on I nui'tiori wiln .'in. not rioceMßiirily ''.word. 11 >". h <»»•« our icMimnnihiHty .vif/.'-'" , 11 " " f tho ! I. Mippose \.-v.- X,, ha(J . L v , OIJU . i!"t ion of three millions instead of tho present, population of half that number, what. a. d iff ere nce it would malco to each indi\idea] share of the national debt, and lo the runsequctil average per head ol taxation; a reduction, by spreading, of taxation of Hourly H 7 per ln-ad oit tin; average, per annum—or nearly .'Cllfi per family of five! It tho plan could be arranged, this result would be easily possible—tho amour.t of the present war debt and pensions will not. increase but decrease if we forgo the luxury of irioni war. The cost, of social and State services has now risen so rapidly, and is SO large, that it .should suffice for double the population, and the cost and staff of the public services could do tho necessary work without, niar-h addition if properly organised. At, the, rate of increase of population during this century (OS per cent, by excess of births over deaths, and 32 per cent, by immigration), it, will take

about ::o yars to double our present population; but J hold this eould be .speeded up '.villi advantage, :uid under proper organisation from ,';0,0u0 to f,0.000 a year of permnnent immigrants could be absorbed. Small Fanners from England. JN'aturally the land would take a majority of thi-m. 'There are plenty of small farmers in Kngland with from .'J 1 000 to a: who would come out if assisted. How would it be to offer each of them from the Unemployment Fund a Mib-,idy of £1 per week for each single man or ;C 2 for each married man they employed during their first year or two years, in addition to paying half their passages arrangement with the 1 »ri 1 ish Government, and letting them have Mo.-Us o)' land for five years, rent and ra'.e> free, with the right to purrh:«se <>: iVi vy en-..- terms o',, r a long period It would pay the l>ominion handsomely to do this. Tlunk of our local prod nets they touiM .-ousume. Think of tli'. 1 stimulus they would give to all production, to otir railways, and to every phase of business fo-tivity in New Zealand. The Results. 'l'l.e ]!:t r.nlui'ti''ii of this sn.ali ownership and employing <;las.-. would quicken our ecioiotr.ie eirculation so much that nv could also absorb many thousands of skilled workers, whoso fares and a subsidy for a while, until they were settled, would probably be provided by the llritish Government by capitalising a portion of the dole (an was migge.stcd recently by speakers at the Chambers of Commerce Conference). This scheme is quite feasible, and now "n the time to arrange it while land and stock and the cost of living «Te all getting ■■h"apor. Some Conditions. iiut in fairness to those, who would be. invited to come out here it would need ns a corollary a twenty-year scheme to cover our fiscal system in its; effect on priinarv and secondary industries and the planning and regulation of our national and local body spending' and taxation: and it would require a National Government of patriots free from the control of sectional doctrinaires. Perhaps a plan like this is too much to hope or expect, seeing that his heart everyone, seems to imagine that nations grow fortuitously, while Tuißinosses have, to be planned. (To be continued.*