The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. MONDAY, MAY 19, 1930. NATIONAL ECONOMY.

Hokitika Guardian, 19 May 1930, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. MONDAY, MAY 19, 1930. NATIONAL ECONOMY.

i Early in tlie year Mr Ramsay Mac Don 1 aid informed the House of Commons that his Government had decided to i set up an Economic Advisory Council, : with himself as Chairman., Apparently ! the scheme had been discussed at some ■ of tbe “political luncheon parties” for which Downing Street-lifts recently be- ; come famous; and “those present” in- | hided such distinguished economists as Professsor Clay, Professor Layton, Jr J. M. Iveyne, Mr G. D. H. Cole and Mr Tawney. Mr MacDonald was evij clently encouraged by the favourable re. ception of his scheme, and. in February the personnel of the ne.w Committee was announced. Labour is represent<d on it by Mr Earnest Bevin, lender of the Dock Workers’ Union and Mr Walter Citrine,. general secretary of the Trade Union Congress; commerce and finance are represented by Sir A. Balfour, ex-President of the Sheffield Chamber qf Commerce, Sir John Cadman, of the Anglo-Persian Oil Sompany Mr A. Duncan, oif the Central Electricity Board, and Sir A. Lewis, of the National Provincial Bank ; and 'the list is completed with the names of four distinguished economists. Keynes, Cole. Tawney and Sir Josiah Stamp. It will be generally admitted says an exchange that this Committee is admirably equip ped with , brains and experience to act as an “Economic General Staff” for the nation; and tbe justification for this new departure was set forth convincingly by Mr MacDonald before and during the last election campaign. He pointed to the casual and haphazard way in which the country’s economic administration is conducted, and he made a strong plea for organisation on definite and scientific lines. It we nee da Committee of Imperial Defence, we surely require even more urgently a committee able and willing to give the same unremitting and assiduous attention to the solution of the problems of peace. The Economic Advisory Council will serve the purpose of “eyes and ears for the Prime Minister’\ on economic questions. It will keep him informed of the facts and tendencies of the economic situation, and it will thus enable the Government to adjust'its economic policy more accurately to the country’s immediate needs, ensuring, among other things, “the satisfactory conduct of industrial negotiations and the effective application of the measures suggested for coping with unemployment.” There may be some danger that Mr MacDonald, in his enthusiasm for his new project, has rather over-es-timated its possibilities. In one of bis election speeches he referred to the organisation as “seeing, thinking, investigating, gathering together related to the active co-ordinated life of this country.” This is certainly a comprehensive programme, and if the “Economic General Staff,” in addition to observing the economic situation and coordinating the work of all the Government Departments, has also to take into account, in accordance with the Prime Minister’s forecast, the systematic construction of railways, roads and bridges, afforestation and drainage and coast protection, emigration and colonial expansion, it will certainlv have its ’ nnds full. Air Ramsay MacDonald 1 bough lie lias disclaimed any intention n" working for “Socialism in our tir ln in +be sense in which tbe “left wingers” of the Labour Party use tbe phrase has evidently great confidence in the capacity of commissions and to regulate the nation’s affairs even on the economic side. A striking

illustration of liis faith is the recent

Bill for the creation of a Consumers’ Journal. In the heat of the conflict between Suply and Demand, waged 1,011 stantly in the world’s markets, the interests of the-consumer are too frequen ly neglected, and Air MacDonald may

.airly be commended for attempting to protect tbe “third party” who so often suffers most severely in the ceaseless war between Labor and Capital. The ixation <Jf prices through the Board of Trade, which this Bill contemplates may prove a dangerous experiment. But .n any case, whether the new Advisory Councils succeed or fail, Mr MacDonald deserves credit for his vigorous attempt to introduce orderly and sytematie organisation into the administrative and economic eaos which has prevailed in Britain since the Great War.