A QUESTION

Hokitika Guardian, 19 November 1929, Page 2

A QUESTION

THE NEW GOVERNMENT AND ITS JOB. One of the first questions the new Federal Government should put to itself and answer honestly is: “Do we propose to pay our debts?” IfMinisteis say “Yes,” as we presume they will, then they must begin to ask what those debts:are,.and- make provision.,accordingly. MoSt bf us could have quite a good time if we didn’t hnv£ to meet our bills. It is those bills'that largely decide for us what we can-do and what we can spend. it' must be precisely the same with a Government.

The supreme economic iact so far as Australia is concerned is that its owes its overseas creditors approximately 30 millions a year—that is for interest alone. Paper,is so good for paying this: our Bank notes are worth nothing outside Australia. We have undertaken to pay ill gold; If We produced the gold tile "'matter would be easy; but we don’t. Our surplus gold wouldn’t ipny a tenth of the bill, Our only course, then, is to produce something that will sell abroad for gold; and we must produce it in excess of what is required.to pay for our imports The larger our imports the more difficult of course to produce the excess, or indeed any excess at all. The next trouble is that, not having the gold, in order to get it we linist sell our products abroad, and that means in competition with the world. A great deal is said about our standard of living. We are told that in this young land we must not ask our people to live under the same conditions as people abroad. We should have thought of that before borrowing so enormously, seeing that foreign borrowing drives us to produce at a price as low as the foreigner. Instead of slowing down, therefore, on foreign borrowing, we have made the pace much faster than ever during the past 15 years. No political party has been guiltless in this respect; but Labour Governments have been the greatest sinners of all. At the very moment when they were declaring that the standard of living must not only be maintained, but raised, and wages increased and hours of labour further reduced, they were doing the very thing which made these changes, if not impossible, at any rate enormously difficult. In one and only one way can they he accomplished: by speeding up and thus verv greatly increasing the output.—“ Wild Cat.”