Evening star., 1944-02-06

| WILL have some tales TO tell ABOUT Jnat
small British dominion that will be quite
as exciting, in their own way, as the
stories of battle. For these soldiers
unlike all but handful of other Ameri-
cans, will have the good fortune to get
an intimate look at the workings OF
reform legislation that has made New
Zealand "the social and economic labo-
| ratory of the world"
| 1t will be interesting to find out
whether they think the dominion is a
| demiparadise, as many say it is, or a
| place, as others claim, where social
reform has been carried to fantastic
lengths. What these soldiers tell us
| about New Zealand may have an ap-
| preciable effect on the course of events
in the United States.
foot forward in book written by its
first Minister to the United States
Walter Nash, and published recently by
Duell, Sloan & Pearce. New Zealand
a Working Democracy" tells a story OF
absorbing interest, and tells it with the
authority of one who has had large
hand in shaping the conditions about
which he writes.
Walter NaSh-who had been, Incl
dentally first manufacturer and then
wholesale merchant-Was the president
of the national Labor party when 1t
came into power in 1885, and at the time
of his appointment to Washington he
held four or five separate cabinet posts,
including that of Minister of Finance
During the absence of the Prime Minis
ter, Peter Fraser, from New Zealand in
l941, he had been the head of the coun-
try. Under special legislation, he retains
while in Washington his status as a
member Of Parliament and Minister of
the Crown.
Far Beyond New Deal.
Eric Estorick, the biographer of Sir
Mr.. Nash's book that the Minister'S
''philosophic inspiration appears to be
derived from the idealism of William
Morris rather than from the economic
materialism of Karl Marx. Social re-
form, rather than social revolution, Is
his credo." This characterization of Mr..
Nash fits accurately the results which
he has helped to bring about in
New Zealand; there has been no reyolu-
ton in the Russian sense, no abrogation
OF the private-property principle. but a
gradual enlargement Of state enterprise
to point far beyond the venturings of
+ the New Deal in this country.
What has been the effect on the well
fare OF the individual? All the benefits
he has received. say the critics, have
really been paid for by the citizen at a
fancy price" There is high per capita
national debt; industry has been
"harassed.' For the laws of supply and
demand and the survival of the f1ttest,
there has been substituted "an economy
which seems to differ from complete
socialism only in the retention of the
private ownership of property"
The quotations are from writer in
the Saturday Evening Post in reply to
experiment. They represent the classic
objections to governmental invasion OF
fields once sacred to private business.
Nash replies: THE planned and reg
ulated development of the Dominion s
resources that has taken place through
out her brief but crowded history has
enable the mass of the people to enjoy
today the freedom that comes with a
standard of living which compares more
than favorably with that enjoyed by the
people of any other country"
Winston Churchill, an economic con-
servative, has said: IF we can make
state enterprise and free enterprise both
serve national interests and pull the ma
tional wagon side by side, then there is
no need for us to run into that horrible,
devastating slump or into that squalid
epoch of pickering and confusion which
Knocked and squandered the hard-won
victory which we gained quarter of a
century ago."
Tremendous War Effort.
New Zealand's mingled economy Of
state and free enterprise, whatever else
1t has done or failed to do, has produced
war effort unexcelled by any of the
United Nations. From it's population of
100000, or about the same as that
claimed by Detroit or Los Angeles, living
in an area about the size of Colorado,
New Zealand has put under arms force
relatively as large as would be an Amer
ican army, navy and home guard of
1900 900. 1t has conscription both for
home and overseas service.
The cherished 40-hour week-though
all other social reforms have been
jealousy guarded-has gone by the
board for the duration OF the war. Over
time. is now payable only after 48 hours.
The country's whole war record, on the
fighting fronts and at home, squares
with its previous demands for stronger