822
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE
[No. 41

In addition to those important measures to which reference is made elsewhere, legislation will be introduced dealing with social security, land sales, tenancy, transport, marketing, the rating of vacant land in counties, shipping and seamen, Harbour Boards, a Medical Research Council, national parks, hospitals, and the codification of the Acts governing the Army and Air Force.

In accordance with the terms of their election policy, my Government will also introduce a Bill for the abolition of the Legislative Council, the continued existence of which as now constituted they consider unjustified. It is the further intention of my Advisers to explore means of guarding against the possibility of undue haste and insufficient deliberation in the enactment of legislation.

There will be placed before you at an early stage a Bill to restore capital punishment and a further Bill to restore corporal punishment in serious cases. In accordance with the pledge made before the election, however, my Ministers will submit these two measures to a free vote of the House.

It is a matter of much satisfaction to my Ministers that the long-sustained and strenuous efforts of the farming community continue to be rewarded with a high degree of prosperity, which is reflected throughout all sections of the community. Butter and cheese exports last season reached the highest totals yet recorded. Though June figures for meat exports are not yet available, their total will show a substantial increase over 1948-49. Last season’s wool production was the second highest on record, and prices continue at high levels. Negotiations are being conducted at the present time with the United Kingdom Government concerning the prices to be paid for the coming season’s exports of meat and dairy produce. It will be the constant endeavour of my Government to do everything possible to promote and secure favourable prices for exports and to ensure thereby that the national income as a whole will remain at buoyant levels in the foreseeable future.

The close co-operation between primary producers and my Government has been strengthened by the formation of a Primary Production Advisory Committee, under the chairmanship of my Minister of Agriculture, and it is confidently expected that this body will play an important role in the furtherance of my Government’s policy of increased primary production. Legislative provision will also be made for placing on a permanent basis a new marketing advisory body.

One of the major administrative changes foreshadowed by my Advisers before their election to office was the setting up of a Board of Trade to advise on matters connected with import control, trade, and tariffs. These are matters of the greatest importance to our trading community, primary producers, and especially, the consumer. As a preliminary step an Advisory Committee, under the chairmanship of the Honourable Sir David Smith, has now been appointed, to advise on ways and means of putting the Government’s policy into operation. My Ministers are confident that the Committee, and the Board, when it is established, will be able to recommend measures which, while providing reasonable protection for efficient local industries, will ensure that our overseas funds are used to the best advantage in purchasing the goods we need, and that traders are enabled to develop their businesses with the maximum amount of freedom. As a first step it is the intention to remove import restrictions entirely from a wide range of goods.

Parallel action has been taken internally to remove those restrictions which no longer appear justified, such as rationing, price controls on goods in adequate supply, and controls on urban land sales. These steps are designed to restore to the people the advantages of healthy competitive forces in the national economy. They are an essential counterpart of the action now being taken to restore economic and financial stability, and together they will serve to remove some of the basic causes of increased living costs in recent years.