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Salient: An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria College, Wellington, N.Z. Vol. 11, No. 10, August 18th, 1948
Problems of Peace—an Economic Solution
Problems of Peace—an Economic Solution
A hungry population is a dangerous one, said the Minister of Finance, Mr. Nash, in his recent address to the Political Science Society, and the solution to the problem of peace is therefore economic rather than political. The engines of war have made an "awful mess" of Europe and in addition to the physical destruction the whole economic system has been disrupted. To illustrate his argument Mr. Nash proceeded to outline an economic tour of the world, "I have seen lots of other countries—at your expense," he said.
He began by quoting production figures ("I like figures") for the various countries of Europe. For Europe as a whole, production in 1945 was 59 per cent. lower than it was in 1937.
Mr. Nash then visited Asia. In China, he said, there are no statistics available, the population has never been counted, but we do know that there are about 500,000,000 people, of whom 300,0000,0000 have never had enough to eat, yet the Chinese government voted 80 per cent. of its budget for war and preparation for war. He repeated, "a hungry people is a dangerous people." Japan has about 40 per cent. more land than has NZ, but her population, at present between 74 and 78 million, is increasing at the rate of 900,000 a year. But for every 100 units of production in 1937. there were only 24 in 1947. There could be no solution to the problem of Asia until Japan was back in production.
In Java there was a similar decline in production and Mr. Nash quoted on Indonesian spokesman at Havana who stated that the comparative rates of pay for an Indonesian and a Dutchman engaged on equal work were 10 cents and 3 dollars respectively. Before leaving Asia, Mr. Nash said he questioned the morality or the ethics of any one group seeking to improve its living standards at the expense of another group on a lower standard.
The speaker's tour now led, via the Middle East and the Balkans, to Europe. Here the major issue to be considered was, of course, the Marshall plan which, in his opinion, is a good thing in that it will aid in restoring production in the non-producing areas. It is also quite useful as a method of disposing of surplus production in the United States and preventing unemployment in that country.
Mr. Nash then visited the United Kingdom and he spoke of the tremendous contribution made by Great Britain during the recent war. Her internal debts amounted to £26,000,000,000 and her external debts were over £3,000,000,000. NZ's policy of selling goods to Britain at a price lower than she could obtain them elsewhere and buying from her at a price higher than would have to be paid to other sources was one small-contribution to her plight.
There are in Europe over 1,000,000 unwanted people; countries such as New Zealand have a moral obligation to assimilate some of these people, but excuses are found to keep them out. As long as this attitude persists it is sheer hypocrisy to speak of World Government and World Cooperation, said Mr. Nash.