THE MAORI VIEWPOINT

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 922, 15 March 1930, Page 8

THE MAORI VIEWPOINT

Sir. — Politically our economic position in New Zealand should be as sound ‘as a new bell. Taking the population of New Zealand as one million and a-half, with a debt of £250,000,000 crowning their heads, what adjustment can we look for ahead to wipe out this enormous burden from our shoulders? Have we toc> many consumers for the producers and why so many unemployed in the country when we can keep the old shilling rolling on our own soil without letting it roll out on some other distant soil? The Maori might have a peculiar way of looking at things, but he cannot conceive any harm in weaving a net of problems for his enlightened white brothers to probe into in order to balance the scale of finance. One thing he can see is that our imports are too great in comparison with our exports. We can employ every soul in New Zealand by manufacturing our own agricultural implements. There is plenty of iron sand in Taranaki to smelt into iron to supply all our requirements in this direction and there are plenty of expert iron workers to be found among the unemployed, probably men as efficient as any you will find in the iron industries of America or England and other countries. The wool people could manufacture their own wool into tweeds right under our noses here, and export their tweeds into other countries at anything from £1 a yard upward, instead of exporting their wool and having the same sent back to them in tweeds at an enormous price a yard, since it would only contain about a pound weight or so of wool in the material that goes toward making a tailor-made suit for > v ° o 1 king. By keeping the old shilling rolling in the country from pocket to pocket, we could borrow millions of pounds from ourselves to settle people on the soil, that Is to sav °» Crown and idle lands, by subI dividing all unused idle land whether : that of Pakeba or Maori. Build j houses for them and stock the land ; to its working capacity. The Govern-

ment must pay the lessee so much a day till such a time as he and bis family have made good. By these means we would never have any unemployed in New Zealand, and we could with impunity invite as many as possible of our British brothers to come and dwell with us and lighten our burden of £ 2:>0,»Ji)0.000. The more the merrier of the right stamp. TAME BOAT A. , Thames.