ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5495, 1 November 1929, Page 4

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

VIEWS BY FARMER. ADDRESS AT KEREPEEHI. An interesting paper on the economic position of this country as viewed from the position of a small dairy producer was read to the Kerepeehi branch of the N.Z. Labour Party last week by Mr H. D. Jamieson, of Kaihere. Taking as his theme that the wealth of the country was derived solely from the export of primary products, the speaker asked way, if we as a selfgoverning people, with every power in our hands of moulding our own destinies, with our primary products selling at record prices and the markets of the world clamouring for more, there were thousands of men unemployed and thousands of acres of land idle and neglected. For thirty years or more this state had been incubating and steadily climbing into the dangerous position of to-day. There must eventually be a reaction, and before that occurred the position should be analysed so that when the fall came the damage would be made as light as possible. To-day, with a population of over 11 millions, there were only about 60,000 primary producers, whose combined efforts and labours were overburdened in carrying and keeping this vast army of people as well as meeting the interest on our national debt of over £264,000,000. There was something wrong somewhere, and the whole fabric should be taken to pieces and re-erected on new foundations.

Referring to the days of his youth, when the art of work was not a lost one, when the men who could and would do an honest day’s work was not looked upon as a fool, when to pioneer the back-blocks was the aim and ambition of every young man, Mr Jamieson submitted that if the spirit which actuated those men had been inculcated into the minds of the rising generations a great difference would have been made, and no such economic difficulties as were now being faced would have arisen. The whole difficulty was in the assumption of the rising generation that they were of a superior class to their parents and should commence where their parents left off. To blame the individual for this would be wrong. The blame lay in the misuse of the power called democracy. We had gone to great trouble and expense in organising and perfecting a machine for the ' special purpose of cultivating the minds of the rising generation along the lines of progress and prosperity without the need for doing that which even Christ was not above doing. He earned His own living by the sweat of His brow.

The speaker said he did not wish it to be assumed that he was advocating as an antidote for unemployment and a remedy for the economic evils the with-holding of the knowledge of how to read and write. The point he wished to make was whether the community got value for the huge sums expended on higher education, and whether the finished product was 100 per cent, efficient to produce his share of wealth. It had to be admitted that the greater part of the huge public expenditure on education was wasted; that not only was boys’ time wasted, but that a crime was being committed against boys by utilising the plastic stage of their minds when they could be directed along the lines of usefulness both to themselves and to the country in filling them with matter that was utterly useless and non-essential in after life. The whole trend and ambition of our educationalists seemed to be along the lines of attaining a fitness and proficiency for everyone for any occupation other than that of good, steady, honest, manual work. Hence the younger generation were steadily increasing the army of non-producers, who, through no fault of their own, were in a continuous scrummage in falling over one another in order to take in each other’s washing. What this country required in the matter of education for the vast majority was a plain, sound application of the rule of the three R’s on common-sense lines. Those who think their children should have higher education should pay for it, and the money should not come out of the public purse. How often was it the case that the person who was progressive, whose advice the people sought, who was enterprising and a successful business man was self-educated.

What was required in New Zealand to overcome the present difficulties and tq ensure against future troubles was a population trained along lines consistent with the demands and needs of the country—men and women who were anxious and willing to take up their share in the production of those primary products round which all other necessary trades and occupations rotated, and nothing should be put in the way of any person becoming a primary producer. Mr Jamieson dealt at length with Government administration, the question of wages, and with tariff reform, and concluded by urging a thorough stocktaking of the castle of State. It was built, he said, thousands of miles from its neighbours, on soil that was groggy with political faults; shocks and rumblings were of daily occurrence, and (referring to the drift of rural population to. the cities) 15,000 of its foundation blocks ,had fallen away. No serious attempt other than protective (tariff) walls had been made to keep the building in proper order, and it was not out of plumb. The most interest taken in the structure by the Government was the constant addition of more and heavier titles and ornaments to its roof. Could the foundations continue to stand the strain ? Obviously, unless some quick method was found of increasing the size and power of the foundations the whole building was bound to fall. The foundations of our national wealth were primary production, and when that was restored to posterity all sections of the community would be restored to a state of happiness.