GOLD STANDARD

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 225, 20 June 1944, Page 3

GOLD STANDARD

Lower Hutt Resolution Against It

A well-attended public meeting addressed by Mr. John Hogan in the King George Theatre, Lower Hutt, on Sunday, adopted- this motion k “This public meeting, believing that successful reconstruction and rehabilitation will only be possible if New Zealand is free to carry out a monetary policy based on her own resources and without accumulating debt, requests that New Zealand s representatives at the forthcoming world monetary conferences should adhere . to thus view, and- in particular should object to the use of gold as a basis for international financial arrangements, which we consider unnecessary and dangerous.” The mayor, Mr. J. W. Andrews, presided. .. Speaking on “Victory—M hat Next. Mr. Hogan said that the international food and monetary conferences,, and the setting-up of the United Nations Rehabilitation and Relief Administration were substantial indications that steps were being taken to deal in advance with post-war problems. But th# value of these conferences must not. be overestimated. First, they were. representative only of the United Nations, and other countries, though defeated, could not be left out of final decisions without storing-up trouble. Secondly, the conferences were examples of planning from the top down. If all that was implied by the term democracy was to survive and prevail there must bp planning from the bottom up; the people must have a hand in what was done. . There were two distinct points. The question was which would take control of the immediate post-war period—those who believed in centralization, planning from the top, and the subordination of the individual to the State, or those who believed in decentralization and the supreme importance of the individual, on whose welfare the real security of the community depended. It was equally a question of whether national rights were to be subordinate to world planning and control, or whether it was to be. recognized that the preservation of national independence and culture was the only foundation on which human progress, unity and co-operation could be built. There were still warnings that all would not necessarily be well when they had won the war. In recent news were statements from Mr. Nash that unless certain things were done there would be larger, longer and worse world wars, while an American professor foreshadowed widespread unemployment as serious as t ,ie depression. Common sense told the people that neither of these evils was unavoidable—that the productive resources of the world would be so great that poverty and economic distress could be abolished and freedom and security established for all peoples. But these desirable results would only come about if there was determined action, originating in the people themselves. That wasalso the only safeguard-'against a planned “New Order” imposed from some central source, which was only a form of totalitarianism.” “The recommendation' to employ gold as a basis for international finance was a great shock to those who thought we had learnt a lesson from the experiences of the last 25 years,” said Mr. Hogan. “Though it is now claimed that this cannot be compared with the use of gold as a standard governing the issue of internal currency, it means that a great deal of power and control will still be vested in those interests who command the resources of gold, which could well be left right out of the picture. It is all the more remarkable to find the ActingPrime Minister, Mr. Sullivan, in his ro cent statement, justifying and supporting the use of gold as a basis, though this was described in the original reports as a ‘clear-cut American victory over the British proposals.’ It is vital that the power of international finance, which knows no'country and is not concerned with human values, • should be finally eliminated.”