ECONOMIC TROUBLES

Hokitika Guardian, 14 November 1931, Page 6

ECONOMIC TROUBLES

THE WAY OUT. GOVERNOR-GENERAL OPTIMISTIC. Speaking at a civic reception at Ashburton on Friday his Excellency the Governor-General, Lord Bledisloe, referred at length to the position and prospects of the Dominion. “I have, following the admirable example of JJ..R.H. the Prince of Wales, deemed i't not inconsistent with my own task as his Majesty’s representative, to study meticulously the economic conditions and prospects of New Zealand,” said his Excellency, “and as far as circumstances permit, to promote a more effective liaison between producers and -consumers in the Mother Country and those in this Dominion; and also, bearing in mind lrow much farmers can learn from each other’s experience as well as from the results of scientific research, to assist in support of the useful activities of the Department of Agriculture in bringing a similar interchange of knowledge between the primary producers within the Dominion itself. NO NEED FOR PESSIMISM. “This country, in common with all other civilised countries of the world, is passing through a financial and industrial crisip involving for a 'time widespread unemployment and poverty. This is aggravated in New Zealand, as Great -Britain, by very heavy financial commitments, both national and local, embarked upon in days of greater prosperity. These, which constitute an exceptional burden upon all concerned In production, ’ distribution and transport of commodities, necessitate drastic economies and the avoidance of all waste , and overlapping, and a universal determination, ip ‘the public interest, to reduce the cost of living and resist all temptation to exploit the public for private gain. If every section of the community will unselfishly and patriotically shoulder its due -share of the sacrifice which we all

have tb - faoe according to our means. 3 am confident that New Zealand, although at the moment not far from the edge of a financial precipice, will emerge triumphant Irom her present economic troubles and enjoy in the future more settled and continuous prosperity than she has in the past. Prices of primary products will undoubtedly approximate to the lower levels which obtained before the war,

and indeed they must do so if they

are effectively to face competition m the open markets of ‘the world. But if these ‘lower prices are duly reflected in a lower cost of living and a correspondingly' h-gher purchasing power of money a general allotment readjustment of values will occasion no ultimate disadvantage to producer, consumer or wage-earner.

“There is Tor pessimism, as long as all classes ’are reasonably prudent and patient. I am told that I am .an optimist. How could one be otherwise in ‘God’s own country,’ with its plethora of sunshine, the lowest Heath rate (in the world and such human material and natural advan-

tages as this fortunate Dominion possesses? Half the people in the world who die prematurely through lack of cheerful and resolute^determination to live. So it is with our economic existence. Just as ‘nothing succeeds like success’ so nothings is more conducive to failure than gloomy anticipation of it. ECONOMIC SALVATION.

“But ordinary prudence must be a condition of confident expectation and hope. And we must exercise such prudence at least as much in our public policy and administration as we do in our private affairs. ■. This Dominion, with unprecedented problems to face, stands at the parting of the ways. If i't is to' choose the part of economic salvation, it must have that clear vision without which a nation perishelh. The outlook and ideals of any State may be deemed to be the outlook and ideals of the bulk of its inhabitants. The word State itself means and implies stability. There can be no stability in the national fabric unless it has a firm founda- 4 tion—a foundation which is morally and materially secure and unshakable, morally in the sense of being based upon principles of righteousness, equity and fair dealing between man and man, ■and materially in the sense of a capacity "to discharge all its lawful obligations. The laws of every civilised country, provide for tho due observance of every legitimate contractual undertaking. A sense of justice and a jealously-guarded reputation for honesty prevent us from promising what- we cannot perform or contracting debts which we cannot pay, even if the observance of such rectitude involves personal inconvenience, discomfort or disappointed ambition. The same considerations must surely guide us in our public undertakings, obligations and commitments as influence us, as men oi honour, in our private relationships. If they do not, the State, then inaccurately so called, will assuredly lose its credit among the nations of the world and be faced, if not' with bankruptcy, at least with those ’’industrial handicaps and devaluations of currency which invariably follow in the. wake of national 'thriftlessness and extravagance.

PROBLEMS THAT AiUST BE -SOLVED

“You are fortunate in having in your leaders of thought of varying political convictions men of’ integrity and unimpeachable character and genuine zeal for the public welfare. There has never been in the history of this country greater need than there is -to-day among its leaders in every walk of life for the selfless activities, of true patriots jealous'of the nation’s credit and fully

alive to its economic position and problems, prudent yet construct:ve, guided by their heads as well as 'by their hearts, and resolutely determined, even at the cost- of their own self advancemerit, enrichment or fame, to hand on to posterity, in this the fairest of the dominions of the Crown, a goodly heritage, impaired neither by moral nor spiritual decadence, nor by the thraldom of financial entanglements and economic fetters arresting progress and stifling initiative. To be constructive without being extravagant and to be scrupulously fair and reasonably generous to one section of the community without being ' unfair to others are problems which confront all right-thinking statesmen in a modern democracy. They are problems which cannot be burked by the mcie use of shibboleths, high sounding phrases and catchwords, but which must be solved wisely and constructively if our children and children’s children are to enjoy in full measure the good things to which they are entitled in a land naturally so favoured as this. At- least let it be our common aim to stimulate, by eyery possible means, and in no way hamper, the production of wealth from the soil of this country, for -without its production no section or class of the community can enjoy its distribution, or profit by its percolation into the various channels of trade, industry and s oc : al endeavour and thus reap the mimeasurable benefits 'which modern civilisation, enriched by invention, can bestow.”