NEED FOR HONEST WORK

Chronicle (Levin), 18 June 1947, Page 4

NEED FOR HONEST WORK

Press Association

High Taxation Is Crippling Production

By Telegrtiph-

WELLINGTON, June 18. The general idea in New Zealand was that farm production Was increasing, but figures from the 1988-39 season onward showed chat -export production had remained static, said Mr. G. Steyenson, chairman of the Agriculture Section of Federated -Farmers, in a r.eport to the annual conferenc.e of the section today. - Stevenson said the present high taxation* was raising all prices and this was- inevitabt s reacting on production, particu -y larly on the poor.er class landsr "It is also sadly hampering « the incentive to produce." When 'it was realised that taxation had riserf from £16 5s 6d per head in 1936 to the staggering sum of £67 5s 3d per head for the current year, the full importance of this factor in our economy could oe realised. This excessive taxation represented a large measure o'f money which was diverted- from the needs of production to the needs. of the Government, and in many cases these needs were not the real 'needs of the country. It w&s obvious, continued Mr. Stevenson, that • the will to work Was slackening ( amongst the people of New Zealand. No effort Was being made .to repair the shortages. - It was obvious that there could be no return to real prosperity until the people realised the neeessity for honest work. The idea seemed prevalent that we could enrich ourselves through the printing press. .Until a realistic attitude was adopted, until the printing of money was stopped, and until the Government ceased to take money and waste it— . mon.ey which could be used for productive purposes in the hands of Dominion producers — they could not expect to achieve that prosperity which had been promised on all sides. Stevenson said he was convinced that a great deal needed to be done to educate the people that it was production that counted. They must be told that they could not expect to have goods ip abundance .unless those goods were first produced, and in the ultimate the only way to produce goods was by work. '