“WOULD LEAD TO RUIN.”

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 263, 4 October 1933, Page 9

“WOULD LEAD TO RUIN.”

LABOUR’S FINANCIAL SCHEMES ADDRESS-IN-REPLY DEBATE. Per Press A ssociation. WELLINGTON, Oct. 3. The House of Representatives met at 2.30 p.m. to-day. The Address-iu-lteply debate was resumed by Mr W. A. Bodkin, who said it w r ould be difficult to stabilise the Dominion’s currency if New Zealand endeavoured to adopt a scheme of inflation, as indicated by the Opposition. The Labour Party’s schemes of public works, social services and guaranteed prices would cost £40,uOO,OOO a year, and such a policy would lead the country to ruin in a very short time. There could be no prosperity until there was a settlement of inter-AUied • debts, until creditor nations agreed to accept payment in goods and services, and until there was a stabilised currency and credit system. Continuing, Mr Bodkin said the Government had rallied to the rescue of various industries, but had not appreciated the advantages offered by the gold-mining industry, He did not advocate State gold-mining, but he considered the Government should prove the fields of Central Otago. Rev. C. Carr said Britain to-day was concentrating on restricting production. She was declining to consider the possibility of increased consumption as a result of increased purchasing power offering a solution of her difficulties. It was an endeavour to starve our way back to prosperity. Credit—that right of costless creation which should be as free as air to the lungs—had been rarified until the patient was gasping for breath. There was a call for confidence, but nothing was being supplied to inspire confidence. If troops in the field were supplied with ammunition, their confidence would return. What was required was a supply of ammunition in tiie economic sphere. Mr D. McDougall congratulated Mrs McCombs on her victory in the Lyttelton by-election and said he hoped she would remain in the House for many years. He commented on the number of Government members who had addressed meetings during the election campaign, adding: “They can send down all they have got, with all their piffle and blarney, but I hope she will wipe the floor with them.” He expressed approval of the point made in Mrs McCombs’s speech regarding unemployed girls. He said he had referred to this subject last year and had urged the Government to subsidise industry to keep shop assistants and others in regular employment. “But when you put the question to the Minister of Labour,” he said, “you.miglit just as well put it to the leg of a table. You would get just as satisfactory an answer.” INTERNAL PRICE LEVELS. Mr F. Langstone said the farmers believed they iived on their exports, but that was an utter fallacy. Every country lived on everything it produced. He asked what there was to prevent New Zealand stabilising her own internal price level on the basis of the goods and services of the country. 'He declared that the Government was ruining the country, and the open cheque which it had received at the general election had been torn up. The sooner the Government realised its position and went to the country the better it would be for the whole of the Dominion.

Mr A. E. Ansell replied to Mrs McCombs’s remarks relating to education. He said that, instead of closing the schools to the children of the working class, as she had alleged, the Government had done a great deal to facilitate the education of these children and to alleviate the position for their parents. Mr Ansell then went on to refer to Mrs McCombs’s remarks relating to unemployment among youths. He quoted figures showing the numbers placed' in employment by boys’ unem-' ployment committees in the four main centres during the past 12 months. Altogether 4458 had been provided with work, while among the 2008 registrations awaiting employment there were included 580 in Christchurch who were in temporary employment. For the purposes of comparison, the total might reasonably be reduced to 1428, as against the 2544 registered as unemployed on September 30 last year. He considered this was an excellent testimony to the energy and enthusiasm of the public-spirited men who had taken up the work of finding employment for boys. Mr R. Semple said capitalism had outlived its usefulness and was now, he believed, on the verge of collapse. There was no need for starvation in a land of plenty. Paper money was valueless unless it had the backing of goods. New Zealand had goods in abundance and upon these goods he urged that its monetary system should be based. The gold standard had gone for ever. Gold could never serve as a measuring rod; it was a useless commodity and it did not represent .the real wealth *of the country. The debate was interrupted by the rising of the House at 10.30 o’clock till to-morrow afternoon.