SHORTAGES OF GOODS

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24913, 28 June 1946, Page 6

SHORTAGES OF GOODS

LONG DISCUSSION IN THE HOUSE

GOVERNMENT’S REPLY TO CHARGES

(P.A.) WELLINGTON, June 27. The Opposition confined the House of Representatives to a discussion on shortages of goods by an amendment asking for the Government’s plan to meet them when the Imprest Supply Bill was introduced to-day. The amendment was defeated by 43 votes to 34 after a long discussion. The bill was then put through the remaining stages quickly and was passed shortly after 11.30 p.m. The Leader of the Opposition (Mr S. G. Holland) said the public were seeking answers to a number of important questions, particularly concerning the shortages which were being experienced in every walk of life. The need for shortages was recognised during the war, but with a return to peace the public were not prepared to submit to a continuation of controls. Nobody dreamed during the war that queuing up fpr goods—particularly those required by women—would become part of our normal peace-time life. The people of New Zealand accepted restrictions on their consumption of food, and would accept further restrictions of that kind if the Government would give them a lead. We wanted to make a major contribution to the saving of lives which would otherwise be lost in the crisis sweeping Europe and Britain,' but we did not want restrictions of our freedom, which had nothing to do with feeding the people of Europe. Mr Holland said it was no fun for women with young children to stand in a queue seeking things they needed. Men to-day were in a very fortunate position compared with women. If a man needed a suit he could order it from a tailor and wait six or eight months for it, but women had to stand in queues for things they required. Coal Supplies Mr Holland said one of the most pressing shortages was that of coal. Coal production had increased by about half a million tons last year compared with 1939, due to the introduction of open-cast mining, but much of this coaf was of inferior quality. The. public wanted to know what provision the Government was making to ensure that sufficient coal was available for the country’s reasonable needs.

Another shortage causing needless distress was that of building materials. Cement' was as short as gold, while many houses had to wait months for a bath or hardware essential to their completion.

Mr Holland moved the following amendment: “That ds the living standards of the people depend upon the goods and services available to them, and as every limitation or restriction on the people’s ability to procure the goods and services they need amounts to a lowering of their living staddards, the Government be urged to lay ■before this House apd the country details of its plans (if any) to increase the supply of goods vital to a higher standard of living, but which cannot be obtained by tne people, and as a first step towards that end the Government be urged to remove all restrictions on the obtaining of goods in short supply, and which cannot efficiently be produced in sufficient quantities from local resources ”

Import Control The Acting-Minister of Customs (the Hon. A. H. Nordmeyer) gave to the House figures of import licences under which goods were brought into the country since 1939, when licences to the value of £57,460000 were issued for goods to the value of £43,834,000. In 1940 licences were valued at £50,564.000 and goods imported £42,149,000- The total value of licences up to last year was £342,238,000 for goods to the value of £266.107,000, which was an excess of licences over goods of £76,131.000. It had been impossible for importers to bring goods to the value of their licences into the country, because of lack of shipping space and the fact that several lines of goods were not being manufactured. Mr Nordmeyer declared that import control was not responsible for shortages of goods in this country. Mr Nordmeyer said the National Party’s policy was deflation and was' advocated by the big financial interests which were behind the National Party. He said it was a big concession for the Leader of the Opposition to make when Mr Holland admitted that there had been more coal produced last year than ever before, but Mr Holland had been soft pedalling lately, and he was careful not to suggest any plans for increasing the production of coal, wheat and electricity War-time Controls Mr T. H. McCombs (Government, Lyttelton) said most of the controls of which the Opposition complained had in fact been introduced during the war to ensure the fair distribution of goods in short supply. Many of these controls had since been removed, and others would go as soon as possible, There were few queues in New Zealand except for chocolates and cigarettes. Mr McCombs said the Opposition amendment had been moved in a spirit of political frivolity, for the Oppositipn knew that the success of the amendment would mean the stoppage of all departmental payments. Mr C. M. Bowden (Opposition, Wellington West) said last year’s Budget had affirmed that after six years of war the people of New Zealand were entitled to spend their money freely, but the Government had failed to take the necessary steps to make that possible by bridging the disparity between the available supply of money and the quantity of goods available. Mr Bowden said that if some shortages were due to lack of shipping, why did ships come to New Zealand in ballast?

Mr H. E. Combs (Government, Wellington Suburbs) said the country could not expect to have things set right in a matter of months after six years of upset due to the war. New Zealand had done a great job bringing back all its troops, and if those snips brought goods to the country Instead the people would have been up in arms. Could the Opposition have managed any better in the last 10 months than the Government? We could do without things in New Zealand until shortages had beep met in England. The Opposition view of shortages was selfish and shortsighted.

Mr J. T. Watts (Opposition, Rjccarton) said the Government had been asked to lay its plgns before the House on how it pi oposed to overcome shortages. The Government had given nothing away. He would offer two suggestions, the removal of paralysing taxation and a thorough overhaul of the present importing system. He considered that the Government’s plans consisted of controls only. The country required less grandiose planning for the future and more attention to immediate needs. The Dominion to-day had the greatest skilled labour rorce it had ever possessed, the greatest backlog of demand, and the greatest accumulation x of purchasing power in its history, yet the Government had failed to overcome shortages which were inflicting hardship on all. Mr Watts said Mr Nordmeyer had tailed to explain that the Government had absolutely prohibited the importation of a great many lines, while granting licences for articles which could not be impprted to the full value of the licences, Mr Watts read a list of items which he said could not be imported, including men’s and boy’s overcoats, china ware, ‘ earthenware, drainage pipes glassware, galvanised iron, refrigerators, washing machines, electric ranges, gas cookers. baths, wooden doors and sashes, He suggested that importers be allowed to search the world for such items. ThedMmister of Works (the Hon. R. Semple) said that to listen to the Opposition speakers was to gain the impression that New Zealand was the only country in the world suffering from shortages, whereas, in fact, shortages were world wide. Coal production in New Zealand had actually increased in recent years, but the increasing delnand had outpaced the increase in supply. Could any member of the Opposition tell the House how another ton of coal could be obtained.

Mr_ w. s. Goosman (Opposition, Waikato) said the Minister of Works

had admitted himself beaten by the problem of producing more coal The development schemes of the Minister of Works were fantastic when there were such shortages of material Transport to-day had to rely on imports of petrol, oil, and tyres, because the country was unable to win He own materials. w The Minister of Supply (the Hon. D. (J Sullivan) said that in his opinion Mr Holland s amendment was an attack on the Government and was completely misdirected, because if the Opposition wished to remove certain cong ° vern ws ,tt>e importation of goods, they should not approach this Government, but the governments ot the countries which had imposed quotas and restrictions on the export of goods. There was not a single article or line of goods In short supply m this countpi for which the Government had not issued sufficient licences to provide adequate supplies Mr Sullivan said the output of cement m the Dominion was not keeping pace u'ith demand owing largely to staff shortages in. cement plants and also to the vigorous programme of housing and other building pursued by the Minister of Works. Considerable orders for cement had therefore been placed overseas, but supplies were not available.