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Salient. Official Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 41 No. 18. July 24 1978

[Introduction]

In a very real way New Zealand is one large resource, a store of the elements needed to make a society feasible. Whether that resource is being used to the best advantage is examined in this article.

New Zealand is inhabited predominantly by people attempting to live as their forebears did in Europe, using techniques suited to a place which is a whole world away physically, and perhaps half a century ahead in development. We have always been coerced by our leaders to follow overseas development (such as motorways), lock, stock and barrel.

The cost has been great. New Zealand has been mortgaged to the money markets, as a Roman slave would have been bound to his master. New Zealand's overseas masters have required, as a surety, that New Zealand involve itself in certain projects that will give short term returns. These returns are designed solely to service the massive repayments incurred by borrowing.

Overseas controlled development of the country is not in any way a new occurrence. Ever since the capital's street plan was drawn up in London on the assumption that the terrain was flat, the country has been led up dark hilly dead end alleys. Many New Zealand citizens believe that they are being led as a nation, through troubled times, by a strong government. It is however becoming more apparent to a growing number of New Zealanders that the country is little more than a very small, very bankrupt, trading company, where the shareholders live overseas, and the workers exist on the corporation's land.

Photo of felled trees