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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 11, Issue 7 (October 1, 1936)

Rulers of the Country

page 5

Rulers of the Country

The Labour Ministry.
The Hon. W. Nash,
Minister of Finance, Customs and Marketing.

(S. P. Andrew photo.) The Hon. W. Nash, Minister of Finance.

(S. P. Andrew photo.)
The Hon. W. Nash, Minister of Finance.

The Hon. Walter Nash, the strong business man of the Labour Government, has been described by a fellowmember of his party in Parliament as a type of “the great middle class, save that his first care is for the under dog.” His long and varied business experience, in England and in New Zealand, and his sound, and thorough grasp of commercial methods and of high finance will be subjected to a most severe test in his capacity as the chief selling agent for the Dominion's products. He will visit Great Britain in that capacity very shortly, and all New Zealand will follow with intense interest his efforts to improve and stabilize our business relations with the parent lands. It is indeed a heavy burden of responsibility that rests on the shoulders of our Minister of Finance and Marketing. It is his task to find the money for the national enterprises which his colleagues have so vastly extended. Funds must be allotted for a score of great undertakings and for the humanitarian reforms which the Savage administration has begun to put into effect. Most men would despair of ever understanding the intricacies of national finance which Mr. Nash must know as the ABC of his job. Many people no doubt consider themselves competent to discharge the duties of other members of the Government, but Dominion finance calls for a statesman endowed with more than ordinary mental capacity. New problems in commerce and the financial system are continually presenting themselves, and the Government has assumed the position of purchaser and vendor of the country's enormous volume of dairy farm and factory produce. That is just to begin with; the principle, if successful, as it must be, is to be extended.

To Inspire Confidence.

Mr. Nash, moreover, is confronted with the task of, removing big-business suspicion and of establishing the confidence of the commercial and financial world in the Dominion's Labour administration. Much will naturally depend on his personality as well as his mastery of administrative problems. He will have to inspire faith in New Zealand's goo.d intentions and his capacity for giving effect to those intentions. He must demonstrate to the satisfaction of our kin in Great Britain most of all that the accession of a party of radicals and earnest social reformers to the seats of the mighty in New Zealand does not mean ruin, confiscation, national bankruptcy and collapse, and all the other fearful results that some prophets of dolour and woe are forever predicting.

The Minister's Career.

Walter Nash is English by birth and colonial by adoption. He is fifty-four years old, born and educated in Kidderminster. His school and college training was rounded off with a period in a law office, but industrial and commercial interests held stronger attractions than the law, and he was ten years in cycle manufacturing in Birmingham. Twenty-seven years ago he came out to New Zealand, and he represented English manufacturers here. Other business undertakings kept him busy for some years until political activities claimed all his energies, his special knowledge and his strong impulses in the direction of social betterment.

Labour Interests, and Pacific Problems.

The aspirations and ideals of the Labour Party in New Zealand politics found a whole-hearted supporter in Mr. Nash. For ten years he was secretary of the Labour Party. The election to that position followed upon a mission to Geneva in 1920 as New Zealand's delegate to the International Labour Conference. His interest in international politics and the promotion of peace in the Pacific shores in particular is sharpened by his intensive study of conditions and problems that are likely to affect the British countries in and around this ocean. He was a New Zealand delegate to the biennial Conference on Pacific Relations at Honolulu in 1927 and later at Banff in Canada.

In Parliament.

In 1925, and again in 1928, Mr. Nash contested the Hutt seat. In 1929 he was elected for that constituency, and he has held the position ever since. His breadth and variety of interests have been stimulated by his world travels page 6
A view of the Haast River bed from Thomas Bluff.

A view of the Haast River bed from Thomas Bluff.

and his knowledge of all sorts and conditions of people. He is a loyal supporter of the Church of England and a leader in the useful C.E.M. Society.

A great reader and a great student of humanity, he is an uncommonly well-informed man. His business share in the councils of the ruling party do not Overshadow his idealistic aims; the desired trade expansion is simply a means to the great end, a fuller and brighter life for all our people.

The Government's Policy and Aims.

In a special New Zealand supplement issued recently by the London “Daily Telegraph,” the Hon. W. Nash gave an illuminating survey of the industrial, commercial and financial position and the general objectives of the new Government of the Dominion. He began by explaining the programme on which the Labour Party, which is now the Government, went to the country last year. The election policy affirmed that New Zealand's trade and marketing policies would best serve the people of the Dominion and the other countries of the British Commonwealth if New Zealand's own production and marketing system were first put in order. To give the best results to exporters and importers, producers and consumers it would be necessary to allow production to expand so long as any important human wants remained unsatisfied, and to ensure that expansion of production did not ruin the producer by catastrophic price falls.

This implied a relation between increased production and sound marketing machinery, together with the establishment of the means to ensure the simultaneous expansion of demand, and the exploration of new markets for the Dominion's products.

Social and Humanitarian Services.

Following this preliminary exposition of policy Mr. Nash set forth in a simple and lucid summary the general aims of the Government. The efforts of the new Ministry, he said, were directed towards organising an internal economy that would distribute the production and services of the Dominion in such a way as to guarantee to every person able and willing to work an income sufficient to provide him and his dependants with everything necessary for a full life. To this end the Government had raised the allowances to the unemployed, provided increased rates of pay on the public works, had instituted a 40-hour week for industry, and had raised the wages of young people on a graduated scale so that when reaching adulthood they would automatically secure a basic wage.

On the side of education it is the Government's intention to reorganise the school, college and university system to provide the maximum facilities for all children. This, however, will not be worth while unless the physical needs of child and adult are fully provided for on the same basis as the needs of the mind.

Health services in turn should be made as freely available as the educational service. That, Mr. Nash wrote, is why the Government intends to organise a system of public health services, including full medical, maternity and dental care which will stress prevention rather than cure. The system will be extended to all the people. In addition a national superannuation scheme is to be launched to provide for the years when people are retired from active work, and for inyalidity pensions.

The Dominion's Finance.

The Minister went on to explain that unless the Government controlled the banking and credit system, they would be materially hindered in the planning and carrying out of this policy. That was why the first major policy measure of the Government was the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Amendment Act, which gave them full control of foreign exchanges and credit within the country and made the Reserve Bank an entirely State bank.

In such a country as this the question of farming finance is all, important. Over 40 years ago the State initiated a policy whereby settlers were provided with money at particularly low interest rates, and for long periods this system has - been the greatest single factor in developing New Zealand's farm lands. Last year the former Government established a Mortgage Corporation, changed the old procedure, limited the scope of legislation for social service, and introduced private shareholders and share capital and bonds not guaranteed by the State.

(Photo Dr. E. Teichelmann) A glimpse of Lake Kanieri, Westland, South Island, New Zealand.

(Photo Dr. E. Teichelmann)
A glimpse of Lake Kanieri, Westland, South Island, New Zealand.

page 7

Now the Labour Government bought out the shareholders of the Mortgage Corporation, and the institution has again cotne under, direct Government control and responsibility. Corporation bonds will be State-guaranteed, so that the money may be raised at the lowest possible rates. There are safeguards so that loans cannot be used for speculation.

The Government intends to provide homes and farms for people at low cost, and provision is made in the State Advances Corporation Act for the erection of houses. Plans are being prepared for the construction of some 5,000 houses at a cost of approximately #3,000,000.

The Farmers and their Produce.

As to the great basic industry, farming in New Zealand had always suffered from violent price fluctuations. This was not the fault of the farmer, but of the system in which he worked. It was the duty of the nation to endeavour to supply fanners with their rightful share of the national income. One method of achieving this is to guarantee a definite price for the product. If there are any losses on the sale of the product the responsibility is then that of the Government. The Primary Products Marketing Act has set up a marketing department to organise and control the machinery for carrying out a guaranteed price procedure. For the tune, being guaranteed prices will apply only to dairy produce.

All butter and cheese exported from New Zealand now becomes the property of the Government when placed on board the steamer. At that point the farmers' co-operative dairy factory is paid in full the guaranteed price for the daify produce by means of a cheque drawn on the Dairy Industry account at the Reserve Bank.

The Govefnment's price will be based on the average price received over the last eight to ten years. For future yars the cost of production, the standard of living of the farmer as compared with other sections of the community, and the stability of the industry will be taken into account in fixing the guaranteed price. The Government's marketing department will market, the dairy produce to the best advantage, and the proceeds will be paid into the Dairy Industry account of the Reserve Bank.

The Trade with Great Britain.

The Minister then proceeded to discuss problems in the general trade relations with Britain. The Dominion, he explained, fully appreciated the right of, and the necessity for, Britain to safeguard the interests of her own producers and increase her output of farm produce. New Zealand was faced with the same necessity, for fanning had so great a part in her internal economy.

Again, the Government fully recognises the economic grounds and reasons of national security in time of war which British policy must take into account. But such a policy vitally affects the whole fabric on which New Zealand's trade with the Mother Country is based, and on which her economy operates at present. The Dominion's natural advantages foster an efficient and economic agricultural industry. If this industry is deprived of an overseas market and she cannot purchase overseas, British manufacturers lose their market and the trade between the two countries suffers.

Summing up the trade position, the Minister said that the more New Zealand can sell abroad at an economic price, the more she can buy. Her efforts will, therefore, be directed to making reciprocal trade agreements. New Zealand will have available in Britain the proceeds of the sale of a substantial volume of her exported products. These proceeds will be used in the first place to meet her debt commitments, and secondly, for imports. Trade between Britain and New Zealand can be expanded considerably. It is the Labour Government's aim, in co-operation with the United Kingdom, to bring this about.

photo. The bush track through the Copeland Valley, South Island, New Zealand.

[gap — reason: illegible]photo.
The bush track through the Copeland Valley, South Island, New Zealand.

page 8 page 9
Lovely vista of the Haast River from the track.

Lovely vista of the Haast River from the track.