£100,000,000 PLAN

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 55, 2 September 1943, Page 7

£100,000,000 PLAN

INDEPENDENTS' AIM

MR. C. DRUMMOND'S ADDRESS

The spending of £100,000,000 on the conversion of New Zealand from a war

footing to a peacetime footing was announced as the major item in the Independent Group's plan for national rehabilitation by Mr. Clive Drummond, Independent candidate for Wellington West, at a meeting at Northland last night. He said it was proposed to continue on a war footing for a year after ; the war to enable this to be done. "The money will come from the same source as it does today," he said. Mr. Drummond said that the Independent Group was trying to find a policy that would suit everybody's requirements. They were opposed to the'party system and. party politics. They had representatives in Parliament sent there by the people, and when they got there they were nothing but rubber stamps. They were answerable to people outside the House. For years he had been in charge of the Parliamentary broadcasts, and he had had an opportunity of listening to the debates and understanding the working of Parliament. He saw what party politics meant. The party member had to vote with the, party whether he liked it or not, because he was tied to influences outside his control. "There is need for unity in New Zealand," said the speaker. "In Great Britain they had to sink party politics and form a coalition and use the best brains for the job: That is why we are winning the war—because we have unity in the Old Country. Here we have one section of the community under the threat of another section. Is that the way to get unanimity, to get the best out of the community? Many people are seeing the uselessness —I might say the iniquity—of the party system." The speaker said that one of the greatest problems was that of national construction, the building of a new New Zealand. He would ensure that every fighting man and woman had an opportunity to share in national construction; neither would war workers !be thrown into the discard. There must be a minimum dislocation of industry and a removal of the strain of war finance. NATIONAL CONSTRUCTION. "We propose a £100,000,000 national construction plan embodying the return to civil life of all the services and their conversion from a war footing to a peacetime footing," said Mr. Drummond. "The country must be prepared to spend that £100,000,000, and it must be done quickly. We must continue the full scale of war activity after the war for a period of one year. Our plan envisages the employment of the full efforts of the people and the resources' of the country in the same way as they have been employed for war. We will look for the same energy, the same initiative,, and the same hard work to be put into industry on a peace footing It is a bold plan, but the need is great and must be met by bold decisions." The candidate* said that there must be a tapering off of war taxation after the war, • with the development of national construction. Touching on the question of rehabilitation, he said that returned service personnel would receive a month's standard of living wage, plus their service pay, plus 2s 6d a day gratuity for every day overseas and Is 6d a day for home service. On discharge they would receive a standard of living wage until employment was found; That was the State's responsibility. Disabled and partially disabled servicemen would, receive a standard' of living wage. It would be decided on the basis of the necessities of life, reasonable comforts, and medical and nursing care. There would be a mufti allowance of £50, and adequate provision would be made to meet the needs of those with less than a year's service. The Independent Group would also set up a War Compensation Court to assess war compensation claims, and each claimant would have the right to be represented by a solicitor. Under the construction plan, it was proposed to develop new industries, particularly the heavy metal industries, and the plastic and cellulose industries, and afforestation, all of which utilised the country's natural resources;' primary industries would be developed on a diversified basis; provision would be made for better water supply, better roads, and better communications; a group settlement scheme would be introduced; there would be decentralisation of industries to encourage their growth in the provincial towns; planned immigration; expansion of overseas Ltrade; the greatest possible removal of \rade barriers and restrictions; and the provision of a wage-scale based on a fair standard of living. ' The group would assist all industries, subject to their being sound and in the true interests of the country's economy. The standard 'of living would be based -on the money system, and not the money system based on the standard of living. SOCIAL SECURITY. "Our social security plan goes much further than it does at present," said Mr. Drummond. "It is the duty of those who can do so to provide for those who, through np reason of their own, cannot enjoy a reasonable standard of living. And in connection with pensions, the standard of living will be the determining factor in the amount of money to be paid. That is the reverse of the position today. The aged and sick will not be given a few shillings to scrape along on. Our plan is true social justice and true Christianity; it provides for a new nation built on freedom from want, freedom from oppression, and freedom from fear." The speaker described the Civil Service as one of the worst-treated sections of the community. As individuals the civil servants were overwhelmed by the weight of bureaucracy, .governed by" obsolete regulations, and hounded by a system of discipline that would not be tolerated for one moment by workers in industry, he said. "We will give State employees access to the Arbitration Court," he continued. "Dissatisfaction is rife throughout the service. New departments are set up and party hacks are brought in from outside over the heads of civil servants who have given 20 or 30 years of faithful service,, and who have not had proper chances of promotion. We must make the Civil Service as fairly treated as its counterpart in industry." The speaker said that his plan allowed for full co-operation of the people in governing the country. Advisory councils would be set up to supply Parliament with expert advice. They wanted the people to take a hand in government and to know what was going on in the Government. At present people outside Parliament controlled Parliament. The party candidates worked for the party machine, and their value to the machine was one. vote only. Democracy did not exist in New Zealand. The Independents had no party interests to serve, but they had a practical plan. "I claim to be the only candidate in this electorate who stands for the freedom of a Parliament truly representative of the people," added the candidate.

Addressing a meeting at Lyall Bay School, Mr. W. G. Bishop, Democratic Labour candidate, for Wellington East, stated that all parties were agreed that the war must be fought .through to final victory; also that the-peace must be won, and that the Parliament to be elected had to plan for the changeover. This planning was a tremendous task. One of the first parts of this plan must be the restoration without delay of rule by Parliament. This had been gradually disappearing, and had been' greatly accelerated during the Labour Party's regime. His opinion of the policies of the parties was that though the National and Labour policies had once been very different, they were now merging. An example of this was the similarity of views relating to finance and land tenure, these now differing only in degree but not in principle.

MR. SCRIMGEOUR'S VIEW

In stabilising wages and commodity prices, the New Zealand Government had reversed all sound economic processes and' had inflicted an injustice upon the common people, declared Mr. C. G. Scrimgeour, Independent candidate for Wellington Central, speaking to a crowded audience at Webb ; Street Methodist Hall last evening. . Except for a few noisy interjectors, the meeting was orderly and friendly,, and a motion of confidence was v accorded to the candidate: Whereas the Prime Minister claimed that the cost of living had. risen by only 13 per cent, Mr. Scrimgeour said, every householder was well aware that the actual increase was easily twice that figure. Suits which in 1938 had cost £8 8s were quoted today at £16 16s, while £3 10s and £5 were paid for ordinary sports coats for small boys. Women were well aware of the high prices asked for dress and other, materials. '' ■ . Stabilisation, as operated by the Labour Government, had simply produced the effect of driving prices up and wages down—a development which was contrary to the interests and the wishes of the rank and file of the Labour Party. It was essential in times of war for prices to rise, particularly the price, of commodities that were in short supply, and some form of stabilisation in the direction of wage and price fixation was desirable. If this were done equitably no injustice was done to anyone; but if wages were pegged and prices were.not, a grave injustice was inflicted upon the consumers. Once prices had risen it was too late to stabilise wages; the process should be reversed "by first pegging prices and then fixing wages at' a corresponding level, in. order to ensdre a good living standard for the people. , Aggravating this display, of inverted economics was the policy, of the Labour Government of playing into the hands of big private distributing firms, all of whom took their profit before the goods reached the public. Mr. Fraser was making much of me victory of Mr. Curtin and his^Government in, Australia, hoping that the experience would be repeated here, said the speaker; but the difference between Curtin and Fraser was that Uirtin gaoled the people who we^ trying, to put up the.price of essential commodities, whereas under Fraser the policy of price control—called stabilisation—had produced the very effect it was intended to avoid. j Mr. Scrimgeour said his policy was to see. that the Government earned on where the late Mr. Savage had left off The policy under Mr. Fraser was a reversal of Mr. Savage's policy and principles.