NEW ZEALAND TO-DAY

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20266, 7 August 1937, Page 13

NEW ZEALAND TO-DAY

MR NASH’S SPEECH. CANADIAN RADIO BROADCAST. POSITION OF THE FARMER. On July 10 the Hon. Walter Nash, New Zealand Finance Minister broadoast from Ottawa a speech on “New Zealand To-day.” After dealing with the location and size of New Zealand and stressing its low death rate, and its great productive capaolty, Mr Nash said, — ‘‘To give an idea of New Zealand It is also necessary to say a word or two with regard to State activities for which New Zealand has been reYiowned. Before the present Government came to power the State already owned one-third of the shares in the largest trading Bank in the Dominion. It had a Publio Trust organisation with some sixty million pounds worth of estates under its control; It had a State organisation for the carrying of risks in oonneotlon with fire insurance; It had State coal mines and State life insurance; it owned the telephone system, the telegraph system, the railway syste'm, and the hydro-eleotrioity systems. To give you some idea of the wealth of the country it is only neoessary to say that in the Post Office Savings Bank—the Bank of the working people, the average deposits at the last time I received a report from the Controller amounted to 180 dollars per capita for every person in thd Dominion. A New Government. A new Government came into offloe in New Zealand In December 1935. To enable it to achieve' what it considered, was most beneficial for the whole of the people of New Zealand, it thought its first duty was to control the credit and monetary system. To that end It purchased the shares that were owned by private people in what is known as the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, and to-day the oentral banking system, oontrolllng credit and currency In that part of the world, li entirely and completely under the oontrol and ownership of the Government. There is only one purpose, of course, In connection with the wise oontrol of money, and that is to inoreasef production and consumption. You cannot raise the stand"ard of living of any person in the

world unless you take something from

somebody who has more than he requires, or unless you increase the' production of goods and services required lo raise the standard. Following on the control of the Central Bank by the acquisition of all the shares that were previously owned by private persons, the Government instituted control of the trading banks through the connections it made between them and the Central Bank, so that now if there Is any monetary or credit difficulty in New Zealand, the responsibility for overcoming the difficulty is with the Government and not with private people. Policy for Farmers.

One of the most interesting things carried out by the Government was the inauguration of a policy under which the farmers—a very important secton of the community of New Zealand, Just as theV are in Cannda —■ should be assured that, in so fnr as they did the work necessary to bring into being products that would be beneficial to humankind, they, in their turn, would be pa*d for the work they did. To this end the' Government, taking the dairying Industry as the starting point, decided to purchase from the farmers of New Zealand all the -butter and cheese produced for export from Now Zealand, and following this decision they paid an average of the price received by the farmers during the previous ten years—five good years and five bad years. Since July 31 of last year the Government bought every pound of butter and every pound of cheese exported from New Zealand. They have arranged for the' marketing of the produce In the United Kingdom and other countries. The farmer gets the price for his product Irrespective of the price - realised by its sale. Here you have an unusual and valuable tr'nity; first the farmer individually controlling his own farm decides to produce the commodity that the Government requires; secondly he sends this commodity—cream or milk —to a dairy factory co-operatively owned by himself and the other dairy farmers In the district, and there it in turned into either butter or cheese; thirdly following on the principle' that the farmers work is to find the best way of producing the commodity in the best form and not to worry about the marketing of the commodity, the Government accepts fuel responsibility lor marketing. Since July of last year the • Government, through 20 agents in Lo.ndon, hove been marketing the whole of the butter and cheese exported from New Zealand.

The farmers have been guaranteed a price for the work that they do; In so far as the produot that tho farmers produce Is necessary for the development and progress of the Dominion the responsibility for selling It Is a national responsibility, and the vagaries of the market, tho ups and downs In prices are aocopted by tho Government as a national responsibility. If the produot sells for o lower price tlßin It oosts, tho responsibility fer meeting the loss Is with the Government. If tho product sells for a higher price then the benefit la to toe nation. It is not expected that there will be a profit on the transaction, but it is expected and it is known that the farmer is now free from the worry as to whether the’ commodity he produces will he sold at n profit or ft loss. He knows now that he can put Ills time and energy Into producing a good artlole and ho will get his price for it anyhow if the quality is right. Housing and Publio Works. Another thing that has been done by the Government of New Zealand is full of interest. It was decided to find 25 million dollars from the Reserve Bank as a controlled issue of new j money. These 25 million dollars are being spent by a spe'oial Housing Department w'hloh arranges by mass production for the ereotion of a better type of house than has ever been erected in the' normal way for theworkers, including farmers, of the I country. We are hoping that our I people, as. they rightly ought to be, ; will be living in decent homes better I than formerly. j Sinoe the present Government came into power the number of unemployed have been reduced from 53 to 25 thousand. Public Works have been started under whioh there is a five day week of 40 hours; pay Is based on 4 dollars or 16s a day in English currency. Some people say that this new ) Government with Its control of cur- | renoy and credit, with its new housing j programme, with its ensuring that the i farmer gets a decent price for the work j ho does, will bring some elements of disorder and chaos. It is not true. The trade position of New Zealand is better than it has ever been in the whole' recorded history of the Dominion. We have now broken all records. We have done what we have for the farmer because we feel that the farmer is doing something necessary for the well being of the Dominion, and It is up to the Dominion to make sure that the farmer gets paid for the work that he does (the same as every other worker), rather than lose on the sale of the produot after he has put ! his time into it. ! The speaker then dealt with pen- ; sions the working week and the comi ing legislation for health insurance and ' notional superannuation and conclud- , ed: Freedom. ' Last of all with the last minute that I have 1 may emphasise one thing that we believe in more than nil else, and 1 that is freedom, —freedom for the i people of New Zealand, and for every i o ther country too. Freedom to elect : |heir own representatives. It is called democracy. We believe that the people of countries have the right to choose their own lenders to make their laws, : and believing thal. we feel that Canada, , Australia, tiie Irish Free Slate. South | Africa. New Zealand and the old j country, the British Commonwealth as I it is called, can give a lend to the world i in showing that democracy can give ! more freedom, more life more enjoyment of the things that are worth while to its people than any other form of Government can possibly give. We be- ; lieve that Ibis can only be achieved to : its full by the way of democracy. New Zealand will stand with all the other countries of the commonwealth to i build for peace, the peace which calls ; for sacrifice, for we may have to stand together lo maintain it against the dictators of the world. We believe that democracy freedom and the right of every man and woman to be them- - selves Is the end of all things and the j beginning of all things, and If the ef- ! forts of the present, Government of j New Zealand can lead towards that I end it hopes to be able to do so.