The Grey River Argus SATURDAY, April 3, 1948. THE CONTRAST

Grey River Argus, 3 April 1948, Page 4

The Grey River Argus SATURDAY, April 3, 1948. THE CONTRAST

/ J'HE fundamental economic issue I facing this country to-day is quite clearly to be. seen by com- | paring the public statements yes- ; terday made by the Minister of Finance and the Leader of the Opposition. That issue is largely a matter of returning, as Mr Holland would suggest, to the state of things which preceded the advent of a Labour Government. His party caucus yesterday went on record as being harnessed as much as ever to the chariot of the exploiting capitalist, and, to their credit, the Nationalists make no secret of the fact. So much is abundantly manifest in their stand for the removal of import control; for the subjection of transport to a purely capitalistic policy, and the subjection of the workers generally to rigid statutory rule of a character much less regardful of Labour than of Capital. It is a significant contrast that is drawn by Mr Nash when he declares that any early alteration of our import selection policy would do a frightful lot of harm to the Dominion, especially in view of the memorable trade charter which has just been drawn up by a host of nations at Havana. That charter sanctions not only the import selection principle, but also the maintenance of the principle of preferential trading within the British Commonwealth, which the Government, under its present policy, honours, far more in practice than it had ever' been observed by any preceding Administration. New Zealand actually has a clause of its own in the charter, the essential characteristic of which is indeed one of the things which finds little or no quarter in the philosophy of the National Party. It is that of full employment, which is one of the fundamental motives for the selection of imports. Whereas the Opposition is eager to do the behests of the importing interests —rising as a justification the claim that this country is an exporter only of primary products! —the great majority of the

people would undoubtedly agree that a steady and extensive development of unemployment is too much to condone for the sake of enriching a mere section of the trading community. The people who live entirely on what they sell are a very minor factor in comparison with the people who live by what they produce. The traders in imports, moreover, have been as free as others from bank rnptcy during the past decade and more, whilst the rest of: the community have been in better circumstances generally than was the case previously. When the Nationalist caucus pretends to an anxiety lest the workers’ families arc worse off to-day because of higher prices than they were before 1935, the average wage earner can only be very sceptical as to the Party’s proposal to refer to some selection of people the questions of prices, wages, and monetary circulation. If such a commission were to implement the ideas of the Opposition they would start upon the assumption that wages limitation is the foundation on which to build a price structure any lower than the present one. The National Party seizes upon the action of certain elements disposed to precipitate industrial strife as a chief weapon with which to attack the Government, whereas the Dominion has, on the whole, a record of industrial peace relatively creditable, and stands likely to see an improvement. Mr Nash quotes our new .industries of recent years, which the National Party is prone to discount, as having under the U.N.O. Charter obtained recognition as deserving of protection in the interest of full employment. The reason why the Opposition caucus feels obliged to seek again for the application to our economy of the practices of exploiting capitalism, and cites as IfaUast the question of enlarging the outlay on military policy, is that the condition of the masses is generally prosperous. Nobody imagines that the Opposition aim is the uplift of the workers, and nobody would expect it to do otherwise than alter the balance in favour of the employing, and especially the importing and finance capitalist class. The Government, on the other hand, in its regard for the wage earners is actually conserving also the welfare of others, and the condition of the whole population is a proof that our economic system compares favourably with that of any other country.