THE WORLD'S ILLS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 76, 16 April 1937, Page 11

THE WORLD'S ILLS

-Qwn Correspondent)

N.Z. Viewpoint on Economic Origins SUPP0RT FOR MR. NASH

(By

Air Mail—

LONDOJN, Marcn iy. Yiews held by the New Zealand Minister of Finance and Marketing, the Hon. Walter Nash, upon certain current world prohlems were extensively quoted by the president of the London Chamber of Commerce, Sir Stephen Demetriadi, in proposing a toa^t to the prosperity of the British Empire at the annual dinner of the Bradford Chamber oi Commerce recently. Sir Stephen* said he thought it was nbvious that there would be no prosperity to the British Empire, and no future agreeable to contemplate for any or us, nnless the unrest, everywhere ii» the world to-day, could be allayed. It was being increasingly recognised that the unrest was, at bottom, due to eco* uonuc causes. ''The New Zealand Minister of Finance, Mr Walter Nash, in an addres's which he recently gave in London pointed out that the same number of men employed on the land in New Zealand were, owing to tcchnical- improvements, prodiicing twice as much foodstuffs as they were a few years ago," contmued Sir Stephep. "If then, Mr Nash" said, Ncw gealand's export morkcts for foodstuffis were to be rectueed or even restricted to their present size, fewer men' would progrssiveiy fmd employment on the land. Secondary Industries "Next, Mr Nash said that if we in this country were to object to New Zealand developing her secondary industries, on the ground that that was economic nationalism, and that we could supply the manuf acturcd goods which sne needed better and cheaper than she could herself, then not only must she eiiiploy fewer men on the land, but she must 'also einploy fewer men in industry.. . "There could in such circumstancee, Mr Nash said, be no question of her iaking more men; her problem wonld be to know how to dispose of those who aro already there surplus to her produ clive requirements. The classical answer would be that New Zealand 'b unemployed should emigrate. "Mr Nash asked whether it was not fantastic that New Zealand, a country the size of Great Britain, and the tesourcen of which had hardly been seratphed, with a population of only one niillion and a half, should be faced with a problem of having to emigrato some of that population, their product being wanted neither from the farm nor from industry. "He had no doubt as to where the solution of that palpable absurdity Iay,?' said Sir Stephen. "He pointed out that in New Zealand, the consumption of meat and butter per head was nearly double that in England. Tn other countries the consumption was lower still. "Clearly, the solution, in his view, lay in ena^ling those who could, and should, eat more food, to do iso, this in its turn enabling the New Zealand producer with the proceeds of his saies, to acquire and to enjoy more manufac* tured goods. Those were the views of Mr Nash. More For the Poor "Mr Roosevelt, the President of the United States, in his inaugural address put the problem in a nutshell when he said: "I see millions lacking the means to buy the products of farm and factory and by their poverty denying work and productiveness to many other millions. The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who Have too little.' "Which ever way you look at the problem confronting the world to-day," concluded Sir Stephen, "you will find that it is an economic one — a problem for the business man. It" is not a problem of production, it is a problem of xlistribution. When it is solved, then will a new age have opened — an age of goodwilJ between men and betweon nations. But, so long as we refuse to tace it. so long have we no right to claim or to expect peace on earth." .