If I Were Prime Minister—

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 489, 19 October 1928, Page 8

If I Were Prime Minister —

THE SUN is offering a prize of £lO for (he best reply So the Question; “What Would 1 Do if 1 Were Prime Minister?” To-day tee publish the 2Snd of the entries. The competition is “open to all comersend closes on October SO.

BY

GAVIN STOVE

J WOULD immediately call together the responsible heads of all departments and assure them that I realised that no Prime Minister could successfully fulfil the position unless he received their wholehearted co-opera-tion and loyal support, and that between them and me I desired perfect frankness. I would ask them to tear down their slogans of “Economy” and place in their stead “Efficiency,” as without efficiency there can be no economy. I would then inform them that I had decided to suspend assisted immigration, and that it was my intention to open up land for settlement on such a scale that it would attract to the Dominion immigrants unassisted, and of the type desired by the country. I would assure them that I realised that by the Crown becoming a purchaser of land to the extent of two or

three millions sterling annually, thereby creating an abnormal demand with a diminishing supply, and with the consequent expenditure of huge .sums on roads, railways and other public utilities which are essential to closer settlement, the price of land would rise in value.

Consequently I would put into operation a steepiy-graduated tax on unimproved land values, that would be increased in ratio with settlement, and with the public expenditure, thereby avoiding the Crown buying back the values thereby created by its own expenditure. I would also point out that this tax was not a compulsory tax, and must not be looked upon as a source of revenue. If the holders of unimproved values either improved, or subdivided the land, no tax would be paid. The effect of this policy wbuld be to bring land down to real productive values, bringing about a redistribution of capital invested. Every pound that the capital cost an acre of land was reduced would make a pound available, an acre, for development; and improvement.

By such a policy I would expect the holders’ security in land to increase, making credit easier, and finance flow back again into rural securities at cheaper rates of interest. In short, the price of the land would be reduced, and the primary industries would be freed from the impediment of their present overburdening interest bill. I would extend land settlement to all kinds of fruitgrowers, giving them the same facilities and assistance provided for meat and cheese producers. I would encourage the dried-fruit industry, particularly in regard to apples, and vine fruits. The canning industrv I would extend from fruit to fish, tomato.

asparagus, etc., and would give that necessary government assistance in finding markets for such canned and dried fruits and fish; and for fishpastes and vegetables. This would bi capitalising our wonderful climate and bringing into use lands now idle. I would encourage secondary industries in all things natural to the country, particularly in the residue from our primary industries, and by these methods I would expect to increase population. reduce imports and increase local consumption, making the country less dependent on foreign markets for the purchase of primary produce. I would assure the people that we were three, five and six weeks farther distant from our present market than are our rivals, and that consequently our policy of self-containment was one that had been forced upon us by world conditions. I would tell them that. I sooner or later, we would be compelled > to change our exports from perishable to imperishable commodities. By adopting a vigorous policy of intensive primary and secondary development —with its natural corollary of reducing imports customs revenue would be reduced to a minimum. There would need to be a revision of the incidence of taxation. The effect of , the policy above outlined should succeed in transforming the nation from shopkeepers to producers. Industry would be flourishing, having a market largely within our own boundaries, and with its exportable surplus, largely imperishable, and able to await favourable markets and market prices abroad. State-owned services would be working to maximum capacity, thereby reducing overhead charges, cheapening the per capita cost to the individual. With this state of affairs I would establish taxation as far as humanly possible on a direct basis, based largely on income. I would act on the principle that it is not what you collect from the individual so much as the amount you leave him after you have collected the tax. I would also bear in mind when considering taxation the fact that a country that provides public facilities on the scale New Zealand does, provides facilities that are used and that contribute to the individual largely in accordance with the income his business provides. Lastly, “finance and credit” —the basis of our Asocial life. As Prime Minister I would try to realise that no matter what I did legislatively in the interests of the progressive development of the country, it would provide no permanent progress or give no permanent security to the producer while he was left the prey of private credit issuers, who could bull and bear the market, inflate and deflate values at will, call up temporary loans and overdrafts at short notice, and force the borrowers to flood markets in an effort at realisation. Consequently I would take a hold of credit. The Bank of New Zealand, which is at -present more than half State-owned, would be taken completely over by the State, and would be run independent of the influence of the associated banks Greater elasticity should be given to rural credits and to those industries that are naturally seasonal. Overdrafts and necessary credits for carrying on legitimate trade and business would be reduced to the lowest possible minimum. In short the bank would be regarded as a public service, and its services would be placed at the disposal of ritimate traders.

The policy o. Slate housing would undergo a revolution. To advance money to build in wood on a 36-year mortgage is not the first, but the last, stage of political insanity. The houses will be rotten before the mortgage is paid off. to say nothing of fire risk and amortisation. All houses would be built in brick, artificial stone or some other permanent material, and there would be no recurrence of the housing problem every 20 years. I would cause a geological investigation into our mineral deposits for the purpose of turning them into the wealth that awaits whosoever cares to take it.

Having returned the country to a state of prosperity, with the dark clouds of unemployment, poverty and unprofitable railways dispelled, social, industrial, humanitarian and educational reform would follow.