A Labor Gov't Runs A War Economy

...Unemployed numbered (0,000 and all sections of the community had suffered from the economic stagnstion which was world-wide...

...Salisbury's broad hints...

...At sny rate, in all the discussion of the 10,000 officers who were slaughtered by someone, I have not heard anyone allude to Mr...

...The device he used was not too subtle...

...Rents of homee hsve been controlled for s number ol yesrs and rents and prices of premises where industries and services are located and rents and prices of farm lands are also controlled...

...The Labor Government took over towards the end of the depression, during which the national income had fallen by nearly 60% since 1929...

...Wages were reduced and the system of Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration so patiently built up over the previous SO or 40 yeara was almost entirely suspended...

...The Katyn Massacres By Eugene Luons COREIGN correspondents work-ing under the handicap of a rigid censorship often try to convey indirectly what they sre not allowed, or simply do not dare, to state directly...

...f nancial policy...

...All cuts made in war pensions and old-age and widows* pensions and family allowances were completely restored, and pending introduction of the full Social Security Scheme in 1938 temporary increases were made in the existing pensions...

...The pity of it, however, is that readers in the home land, being unconscious of the limitations under which the dispatches are composed, usually fail to pick up the correspondent's nint...

...man Harrison Salisbury wrote s dispstch reporting the gruesome inspection of thousand* of corpses of Polish war prisoners dug up in the Katyn forest near Smolensk by a Soviet "atrocity commission...

...There was no organisation for total warfare such as hod operated in totalitarian eountriee for several years, but the whole policy of the Labor Government from the end of 1935 had been in the direction of increasing the efficiency of production and improving diatribution of wealth as well as preparing for the world crisis, which even then, the Dominion saw looming...

...A VERY large portion of the national income of New Zealand comes from the sale of primary producta marketed overseas, a very large proportion of them in the limited market of the United Kingdom...

...A policy of subsidy payment to prevent increases in the price of essential consumers' goods, and of the requirements of farmers, and transport operators, has involved the expenditure of several millions of pounds during the period of the war but this cost is much belov...

...Here hi a] how he ended his dispstch: "A survey of the correspondents brought the unanimous opinion that: "Many thousands of Poles had been alaugh-tered ia the Kstyn forest...

...This fixed price was to be paid irrespective of the price received by the Government on its resale of the products in overseas markets, and in fsct over the first two years of the scheme a considerable deficit was recorded in the dairy industry account kept by the Government in the Reserve Bsnk of New Zealand...

...It is in justice to one such correspondent—my direct lineal successor as United Press correspondent in Moscow, in fact—that I am writing this memorandum...

...the figure that would have been Involved if increases in prices had been allowed to go untrammelled, foil, wed by demands for wage increases and increases in the price of farmers' products, and transport charges—in ahort, if inflation had been allowed to rul* unchecked...

...The whole of the profits of the bank are paid to the Consolidated Fund after ordinary expenses sre met...

...The Reeerve Bsnk ef New Zealand was nationalised by the purchase of sll the private shares and the Bank waa required to conform to the Government...

...On January 23, under a Smolensk, Russia, dateline, U.P...

...The demand ia still far from satisfied, largely du* to the fact that all building workera have had to be transferred to war work...

...But how could he tip them off to bring some honest skepticism to bear...

...The* fact that New Zealand has been controlled by a Labor Governmen* has meant that the problems of service in the Army and in war industry, of provision of housing, of control of consumer prices, and of the relations between capital and labor, have been looked at from the point of view of the average citizen...

...A shortage of houses was quickly apparent and the Government launched a housing program designed to build something In the vicinity of 6,000 houses per annum...

...I. know the sense of disappointment involved for the earnest reporter, having been again and again in that position myself...

...It has been the policy throughout the adashv istrstion of National Service that industries requiring labor to ho directed to them must provide minimeai conditions and wages to ths satisfaction of the Government...

...and that they might also swallow it...

...The result of this housing policy has been to provide many thousands of homes of the highest quality at rents within the means of the average worker...

...He set down the official claims and conclusions, carefully avoiding a personal opinion...

...On the outbreak of the war Price Stabilisation Regulations were inaugurated fixing ceilings which could be altered only with the approval of a special tribunal...

...The platform on which the Labor Government came to power asserted that an increase of spending power in the hands of the mass of the people was an easential requirement for the return of prosperity and that the first charge on national income was the care of the sick and the aged, of the children and of widows, and an adequate return to those who produced the goods and services which made up the national income...

...New Zealand's method of organization of the war effort however means that on the cessation of wsr and its demands on industry, the same machinery can be harnessed to meet the needs of peace again, keeping in view the major objective that the first chsrg* on the national income should be the care of the aged, widows, the orphans and the sick, and the payment of an adequate remuneration to the workers snd fsrmers who produce the goods...

...Primary producta are specially susceptible to market fluctuations and the insecurity of the farmer has always had a deleterious effect on the national economy of the Dominion...

...All cuts made in wages were completely restored and in all trades and industries where such course was possible the forty-hour week wss instituted...

...The U.P...

...The position was met by the previous Government in New Zealand in exactly the same way as it was met by similar Governments in other countries...

...It is true that a large proportion of these goods do not go to the consumer but are for wsr purposes...

...Trad* unions and consumers have had full representstion on all Control Boards, Commissions, and organization* involved in the war effort...

...Salisbury's reportorisl eonscience took over...

...Australia hae had a Labor Government for the last two years, snd the Labor Party has membership in the Coalition Government of Winston Churchill in the United Kingdom...

...The leading architects of the Dominion were asked to submit designs and it was stipulated the quality and conveniences of the homes must be of the highest quality...

...correspondent, I feel quite sure, wat trying desperately to tuggest that neither he nor his colleagues covering the story hsd been convinced by the Soviet proofs as to who committed the mass crime...

...The national wealth measured in goods has increased proportionately...

...In the depression the prices received for the farmers' products fell so low that the farming community was in a parlous condition...

...N pursuance ef this policy its A rat actions were di-roeted te increasing purchasing power, taking control of the nstioasl credit, snd increasing wages and pensions...

...chase of farmers' products st guaranteed prices without any burden for chargea being thrown on the community...

...These pension increases immediately increased the demand for consumer goods, particularly food, clothing, and shelter, goods which were produced inside the country and caused a demand for production which immediately created further employment...

...In addition an invalides' pension was introduced meeting a need which is among the most desperate in any community...

...Later it was followed by National Service Regulations which required the registration of all labor and the movement of men and women from non-essential to essential industry...

...JpH ROUGH OUT the war the farmer has produced more and more food and wool, to meet the needs of the beleagured British Isles, and in addition has at short notice met major changes of demand, involving not only alterations in factory processing, but also changes in farm organization...

...The national income has grown because the worker* are working longer and harder, farmers are producing more, factories are producing larger quantities...

...Incidentally it waa the only Labor Government ef a sovereign country in the British Commonwealth of Nations...

...The inevitable consequence of these measures was a progressive reduction in spending power which swelled the ranks of unemployed and deepened the general economic depression...

...It was accompanied by provisions which gave the Government control over business and farming with the right to take over inefficient units...

...The consumer ie recognised to be the worker, the soldiers' families, snd the supplier of services, who must be protected against expoitation if he ia to render adequate service in the war industries of ths country...

...This has enabled the financing of the Government'a largo housing schemes and of the pur...

...The Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration system ensured the rights of workers and employers in ordered negotiation of wage contracta and labor conditions and restored the sense of industrial harmony...

...The appointment of committees and commissions representative of labor and management hat greatly facilitated all the changea and adjustments that have been necessary to meet the heavy demands of war, and have avoided aerious complications...

...The fixation of prices of farm products enabled a large number of essential items of food and of woolen clothing to be held without any increase from the outbreak of war until the present time...

...The outbreak of war did not find New Zealand unprepared either materially or economically...

...Almost sll hsd been shot through the heed...

...But at the very end Mr...

...Yet it seems to have proved subtle enough to pass the censors—and the worse his luck, subtle enough to be missed by nearly everyone on this side...

...He evidently feared that his resders in the United States might think he was swallowing the Soviet story whole...

...They wars convinced only that thousands of officers wore dead and 'that ths business, waa (rente and gruesome...

...The institution of the 40-hour week immediately spread employment over a much larger field and considerably reduced the rolls of unemployed...

...The conscription of men for military service was instituted bees use it was found in New Zesland as elsewhere that this is the only fair and efficient method of filling the ranks of the armies, the air force, and the navy...

...A Labor Gov't Runs A War Economy NEW ZEALAND'S MINISTER TO U. S. REPORTS ON NINE YEARS OF POWER By Walter Nash Laborite Deputy Prime Minister ef New Zealand, Minister to the United States WHEN war broke out between Germany and New Zealand on September 8, 1939, the ft rat Labor Government of New Zealand had been in office nearly four yeara...

...Variety in deeign was sn essential requirement and the nee of New Zealand materials as far as possible wss stipulated in order to stimulate production snd employment...

...Old-age pensions and widows' pensions snd family allowances were in existence but the levels wen low, even though high compared with those in other countries...

...The immediate effect of the guaranteed price scheme for butter and cheese was to enable dairy farmers to put their finances in order, and it has brought an element of stability into the industry which had never before obtained...

...Here was one ef the war's greatest tragedies...

...A scheme limited to dairy products, butter and cheese, was instituted in 1936, under which the Government agreed to purchase sll of these dairy products at a fixed price which waa directed to be sufficient to enable the producer to meet all his outgoings and to provide an adequate income for himself and his family...

...The effect of these industrial measures on the national income and the demand for goods gave such fillip to production of consumer goods that the momentum was never lost...

...Provision of houses by private enterprise had fallen to practically nothing during the depression and returning prosperity enabled many thousands who previously were unable to sfford the luxury of a home of their own of decent quality to pay a rent that would command an adequate home for their families...

...instead of sn attitude of building houses for the worker, the Government visualised the community building homes for itself...

...The onset of the depression brought s cry for economy and in response to that cry, war pensions, old age and widows' pensions, family allowances were among the first to be cut...

...And that's all...

...Since-the outbreak of war practically all exportable products have been purchased by the Government at a fixed price assuring the farmer a financial stability which enables him to plan ahead and to increase production with a knowledge of the financial results...

...The Industrisl Conciliation and Arbitration system was immediately restored to its full efficiency and compulsory unionism was instituted...

...On the contrary corporation profits and rates of dividend, and farmers' incomes, as well as wages, hare consistently increased, not only from 1936 to 1939, but also throughout the war...

...This has not meant that capital invested in industry and farming has suffered...

...it's love's labor lost...