AS OTHERS SEE US

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 190, 28 August 1937, Page 12

AS OTHERS SEE US

An American View of N.Z. Legislation "NEW-DEAL-ITIS" ■Moft" Araericans . think_ of New Zealand as " a big island right nest door to Australia,"' 'says a writer in> an Ametican paper. If you regard a distance., of 1200;.miles as being "right next door," that is correct.' But New. Zealand xeally consists of two large islands, 'North and South-New Zealand,! surrounded by many smaller ones whicli i are included in'the dominion. " i ThO pfapulation wais in. 1936 nearly; 1,600,000, of which the larga majority' are sefilers or settlers' descendants from the British Isles." The Maoris, the oi-iginal inhabitantsj now number about 80,000. The major islands, Which have an area. abomt equal to New York,' Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, are exceedingly" mduntainous. ■ • ' But New Zealand is really. famous as being the "most advanced in soeial and; labour legislation of the British dominions. Women have voted there for generations. Old-age pensions were established in 1898. A court for the' compulsory arbitration of labour disputes was long ago created, ' together with many other measures to protect the workingman from exploitation by, his employer. All this was done before the world war." After the war, in which New Zealand sent about 10 per cent. of its population to fight in Europe, the Dominion took a rest from politieal pioneering. But the depretesion struck the islands with severe force, as virtually all of tlieir products, like wool ' and leather, are sold in the world market. The national income dropped from £150,000,000 in 1928 to £90,000,000 in 1932. In 1931 the Government Budget had a deficit of £8,000,000 — and this in a state with a population of about the size oi metropolitan Boston'e, Although a coalition Cabinet of Liberals and Conservatives managed to get the Dominion on the upward path again in 1935 and achieved a Budget surplus in 1934-35., the voters turn'e.d on it with surprising lury in Noveinber, 1935, and' elected the iirst . Labour Government with a clear Parliamentary majority in any British country. Before the eleetion, l.abour had '24 of the 80 seatB in the House of Eepresentatives. After^ it had 53. Imruediately the new Gov-; ernment, headed by Mr. M. J. Savage,' "an Australian who had rotghed it in many thoatres of life', and Wfiose prae-, tical idealiem is allied to an lrish faculty for making the most of his poli-' t>.af opportunities," granted a Ghristmas bonus of £100,000 to the' finem-. pioyed. In 1936, when Parliament recc>nveii" ed, New Zealand's-fNew. Deal'* into operation with a whodp. The Gov- ' ernment took complete' charge of thef banking and- credit system. It undertook to buy all the farmers' products at a guarauteed price and • to sell them for what it could get in the open mar-' ket abroad. It xevitalised the. Arbitra-i tion Gourt .for industrial disputes. It; established a compulsory 40-hour week, with a basie wage of about £3 15/-. It populari-sed the radio, disCarding- many; features of the British sySteta and adopting some American practices. It restored all wage and pension cuts. With the help of increased prices and new taxes it was able to balance the Budget. But New Zealand 's percapita tax of nearly £20 is said to be among the highest in the world. A former resident of New Zealand, speaking in Washington, warned cougressmen that Roosevelt's proposed wage and hour legislation would head America toward the "drastic &nd socialistic dictatorship under which my Dominion now struggles. ' ' Possibly this characterisation of the Savage regime is exaggerated. But It seems certain that New Zealand is now enjoying--or suffering from — an attack of New-Deal-itis in its most concentrated and virulent form.