The Dominion. THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 1920. A NATIONAL STOCKTAKING

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 154, 25 March 1920, Page 4

The Dominion. THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 1920. A NATIONAL STOCKTAKING

If New Zealand iss to make tho most of its future a new attitude on the part of its citizens is needed. Economically, industrially, and in many other ways the country is in a rut, and it has to be got out of it. We have emphasised this fact on more than ono occasion of late, and we make no excuse for returning to it. Twenty years or more of prosperity has made us all far too selfsatisfied and complacent and tolerant of an inadequate standard of achievement. Our 'rural local government system and roads maintenance are in a mess that neither political party has had the courage to right. Our methods of public works construction, with the dissipation of vast sums in doles in all directions, are wasteful to the last [degree. In most Departments a creeping paralysis • of routine and red-tape is noticeable. ■ The process has been going on for a very long time.' Nor is it entirely confined to the State. Our prosperity today is due to the high prices ruling for our primary products in the markets of the world,. not to any increase in the volume of our production. How are we to meet onr obligations in the event of a fall in prices? This country should have a magnificent future, but tli'at future will not be realised without a much greater spirit of application and courageous enterprise than is commonly observable. What_ we need above all things is a national stocktaking. We want to know whero we have got to in developing our national estate, what we are aiming at,-and* what are the first things' we should concentrate on. A national stocktaking conducted in an atmosphere of party politics would be worthless. The Dominion is more than weary of hearing Liberal damn Beform, Reform damn Liberal, and Labour damn both of them. Destructive criticism _ will not build up a future for this or any other country. There is a great body of organised and expert opinion outside of politics that has never been drawn upon and harnessed for the service of the State Ss it should be. In this difficult period of reconstruction we have come to a parting of the ways, when the. Government should avail itself of all the .intelligence and experience of the country in shaping our future policy. This would not be difficult to effect. The Welfare League has suggested that an industrial conference, should be called, with a view to bringing about a happier internal state of affairs in industry. Such a conference ceuld do much useful work. But a bigger conference is needed as well. What we want is to bring together delegates from our chambers of commerce, industrial associations, labour farmers' organisations, bankor?, and financiers, together with representatives of the leading Departments of the State. These bodies ail contain men of ripe experience, who do not ordinarily find their way into public life, but remain merely the plain, practical men, without trimmings of oratory, who get things done in_ the industrial and commercial affairs of the country. Why not ask them to formulate their views on the most desirable policy to be pursued in developing our human and material resources? Let us have the practi- ' cal man's policy for the dcvclop--1 ment of our industries, our land ' settlement, our transport, our

sources of power, our education' system, and his views on finance. We should not get it all in a clay. But such a conlercnce could do immediately useful work, and its most valuable outcome might be tha foundation of a permanent institute. We have had for many years a New Zealand Institute which meets for the discussion of scientific and other matters, and publishes the researches of its members in its Transactions. Something is needed also for the wider and more practically urgent sphere of industry and economics. In the United States, for instance, /liorc is an Academy of Political and Social Science, which meets for the discussion of industrial, economic, and social problems, and which issues bimonthly volumes, each dealing in all aspects with some current problem. One volume before us at the moment deals with "Modern Manufacturing," and contains thirty papers on systematically grouped aspects of manufacturing _ organisation and control, each written by a practical business man of _ the first rank, many of them executive heads of concerns which are household names throughout the world. In the .course of years a vast amount of research work is done by this organisation, which must be of inestimable benefit to legislators and the country generally. ■In New Zealand we have highly-trained men of ability in commerce, industry, and the professions, of whose services in examining the conditions that should shape our national policy we make little or no use through lack of organisation. If ever the time was ripe for some move in the direction we have indicated it is to-day.