ORGANISATION FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Korero (AEWS), Volume 3, Issue 8, 21 May 1945, Page 9

ORGANISATION FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

A KORERO Report

When a serviceman hands in his uniform and rummages round the wardrobe to see if his civvy suit still fits he is ready for rehabilitation. For some the main concern will be to get back to the old job ; others will be seeking more congenial, more profitable, employment. Loans, farms, houses, furniture, study, trade training will each play their part in settling the serviceman back in Civvy Street, but the personal side of rehabilitation will remain paramount for the individual. He will be naturally and rightly concerned with finding his own niche in civilian life as speedily and smoothly as possible. To help him find that niche the Rehabilitation Department was established. The success of its work depended on careful planning, so that, where possible, the personal problems of rehabilitation could be foreseen and solutions provided. When a country steps out of battledress the situation is similar, though the problems are a thousand times more numerous and more complicated. The country itself needs rehabilitation, needs assistance in the change-over from war to peace. Not only a section of the community, but the nation as a whole must now be considered, and this means planning on a grand scale. To meet the situation England has established a Ministry of Reconstruction. So has Australia. The United States has a special Senate Committee concentrating on these problems, Canada has organized them under three Government Departments, and India, South Africa, Sweden, and other countries have all established departments to plan their post-war affairs. In NewZealand the Organization for National Development has been set up and given the job of co-ordinating our post-war plans.

The organization is one of “ development ” not " reconstruction,” because, when compared with other countries, New Zealand is in a very fortunate position. We have no devastated cities and ravaged countrysides to rebuild and resettle. Nor have we huge armament industries to convert to peacetime uses. Our main post-war effort will be concentrated on the production of food, an effort intensified during the war which will need to be further intensified if we are to play our part in feeding starving Europe. But it is an effort geared with our normal economy. No upheaval of national life will be necessary for us to continue it. Thus the work of the Organization for National Development is one of development rather than of reconstruction ; of addition to the present structure rather than restoration of a shattered one. We also have a policy of economic stabilization, a Rehabilitation Department and a social security scheme, all of which are considered necessary adjuncts of national rehabilitation in countries now planning for the transition from war to peace. Yet we are faced with problems which need careful consideration and co-ordin-ated planning if they are not to upset post-war conditions. As yet demobilization and rehabilitation of the forces has covered only some of the men and women involved. Lull-scale demobilization has yet to begin. Then, with the termination of war contracts and the conversion of industry to peacetime production (both of which present their own problems), there will be the associated problem of rehabilitating war-workers thrown out of work by the re-employment of returning servicemen and the cutting-back of war production. Many women workers will also lose their war jobs.

Already we have not enough houses. As men return from overseas and marry a new peak in the demand for houses will be reached. Furnishings, fittings, linen, gardening implements, and all the supplies that go with the establishment of a home will be required in quantity, and there will be further demands on electricity, fuel, water, and drainage services. Skilled workers in the building and allied trades will be wanted in record numbers. Coupled with these demands will be a shortage of consumer goods such as clothing, cutlery, prams, radios, and an increase in spending-power. People with war savings will want to spend them. So will industrialists with capital reserves. Servicemen will have their deferred pay and rehabilitation loans ready to use for clothes, tools, homes, businesses, furniture. By the end of the war the potential spending-power of New Zealand is estimated to be two hundred million pounds, three times the pre-war figure. Let loose on the market it would cause prices to sky-rocket high above their wartime levels. These are a few of the problems. Others will be the overload on transport facilities, the disposal of war materials and the relaxation or removal of wartime controls and restrictions. New Zealand will also be asked to play her part in the solution of international problems. Without organization national chaos might well result. Possible supplyjams, delays, unemployment, action by

pressure groups, motor-cars instead of houses, liquidation of overseas assets in luxuries instead of the provisions of key machinery, all point to the need for coordinated planning. No organization could guarantee a completely smooth passage through this period, but a measure of alleviation and improvement could certainly be achieved. But for work of such national importance it is obvious that national cooperation is required and that agreement among all sections of the community is the best guarantee of the success of any attempt at organization. Thus the job of the Organization for National Development is to gain the co-operation of all Government departments and all organizations of workers, manufacturers, employers, farmers, servicemen, local authorities, &c. It also aims to keep in close contact with similar departments in other countries and so fulfil its major role of clearing-house for plans on postwar matters as affecting the Dominion. It is under the control of the Prime Minister. The general aims of the Organization for National Development may be sunjmarized — (a) Maximum use of the whole resources of the Dominion. (&) Full employment of the labour force. (c) Progressive improvements in living standards. The war has shown that, whatever the defects of the pre-war economic arrangements of the countries of the world, they all possessed a latent capacity to produce. With a common goal under conditions of planned production and with a fluid labour force they got down to producing as never before. But their produce, instead of remaining to enrich the national life, was partially blown up or sunk. Still the lesson can be learned that what can be done in wartime can also be done in peacetime provided the basic principle of positively studying, organizing, conserving, and fully developing the national resources is applied. The practical realization of these postwar aims involves much exploratory work

and detailed planning and investigation. In the meantime the best use must be made of the knowledge at our disposal. The general policy is to foster our primary industries as well as those processing industries dependent on raw material available in the Dominion. Encouragement should also be given to industries employing a substantial labour force, and which produce or finally process articles used within New Zealand. Land utilization, development of timber resources, including possible wood-pulp and paper industries, development of electricpower resources, organization of transport are examples of other important problems which need planning on a national scale. Manufacturing industries at present under investigation include the iron and steel, rubber tyre, flax, rayon, axminster carpet, and sugar-beet industries. A general policy of decentralization of industry is also favoured, thus discouraging concentration of population in the cities. The tourist traffic is another sphere where planning will be necessary. Regional Planning The problems will differ from region to region— in the re-employment of servicemen and war workers. Some regions may need land drained or forests planted. Others might be suitable for the establishment of new industries. Others might need public works. Almost all will have jobs to be done to houses, buildings, and land. Some of this will be short-term work, such as “ deferred maintenance ” of land and buildings. Some will affect the longterm development of the region’s resources—e.g., land-development. But, before it can be organized and commenced, surveys of the natural resources of the region will be necessary. In this category are the soil and the forests. The artificial resources include the towns, the transport, the power. Most important of all are the human resources—the people, their will and ability to work. Surveys of all these factors are essential for long-term and co-ordinated planning,

and it will be part of the work of Regional Committees, now being set up, to supply them. These committees will plan the development of their regions. The Organization for National Development will co-ordinate the plans. Much of this survey and planning work . will fall to the lot of local bodies and other local institutions assisted by the local officers of the Government departments and by technical committees. Completed long-range plans will in due course be translated into actual highways, industries, &c. Works Programme Already a survey of local-body and departmental building and works pro- ' grammes has been taken and now requires sifting as to priority and conformity with probable developments in the particular areas. The intention is to have everything ready for the appropriate time in the post-war period. The Organization for National Development is not another Department conflicting with the functions of existing departments. “It acts rather as a clearinghouse for post-war planning affecting private interests, local authorities, and State Departments, setting up committees on subjects that are broader than the scope of any particular department and stimulating post-war thinking in all departments and all sections of the community without seeking to do what can be done as well elsewhere.” There are now eight National Planning Committees (Agriculture, Industrial, Transport, Tourist, Trade and Shipping, Immigration, Personnel, and Power and Fuel ; the Ministry of Works also acts as a Planning Committee) representing various Government departments and outside interests. Twenty-four Regional Planning Councils are being set up composed of representatives of local organizations. The work of Regional and National Committees is co-ordinated by a central Secretariat, which submits final schemes and proposals to the Executive Committee. This Committee makes recommendations to the Government and supervises the general progress of post-war planning.