New Zealand social credit. Political league (inc.). General policy.  Social credit for:  - Financial reform.  - Real democracy.  - Individual enterprise.  - Security with freedom.  - Decentralization of power.  - Sovereign independence.  - Stable prices.  Against:  - Racial discrimination.  - Financial dictatorship.  - Monopoly growth.  - Inflation.  - Foreign takeovers.  - Political expediency.  - Increasing bureaucracy.  - Socialism.  PREFACE. This policy, which has been accepted by the Dominion Conference of the League as the basis for all campaigning in the coming election, should be looked upon as simply a set of initial proposals towards our long-term policy of the implementation by democratic means of the Social Credit principles of Major C. H. Douglas. At the present time, we have an economy which is loaded with debt and taxes and caught in the grip of the cost-price spiral. We also have an established social security system which provides for welfare payments over a very wide field, payments which are today maintained out of taxation. It is within this framework that a Social Credit Government will have to take its first steps towards the ultimate aims and objects of the League. Initially, therefore, it will make a start on squeezing debt and the concomitant cost of interest out of the economy, and also start on reducing taxation and its consequent effect on prices. This will be done by the judicious use of the National Credit, which rightfully belongs to the nation as a whole and which will gradually take the place of debt and taxation in financing such national concerns as public works and the social security system, thus benefiting every citizen either directly or indirectly. The National Credit will be used first where it will do the most good for the most people. It must constantly be borne in mind that the amount of National Credit available will always be limited by the total production of goods and services, the real wealth of the community. It is not until this is free to expand to its full potential, unhampered by its present burden of debt and taxes, that the National Credit will also expand to the extent of requiring additional avenues for its distribution. This policy, then, embodies the collective proposals of the League in Conference for replacing the present debt-ridden economy with an honest and sensible system of finance. In implementing this policy, priorities will, of course, be necessary. Where these are not already indicated, they will be announced by the Leader before each Election campaign.  INTRODUCTION. Background to the Policy. The form of democracy is almost everywhere present in the western world in the shape of Parliamentary institutions; yet almost everywhere the substance of democracy eludes men. Political freedom allows them to form different political parties, but it is evident that parties with different names apply similar remedies in vain attempts to overcome the defects of an inadequate financial system. It is the aim of Social Credit policy to reform the New Zealand financial system by dealing with the root causes of its inadequacy, thereby establishing a true economic democracy which will be an inspiration to the peoples of the world. New Zealand will in this way once again lead the world in economic and social reform. Social Credit philosophy leads to the conclusion that a state cannot be truly sovereign unless it issues credit for the good of its people, rather than the primary good of private financial institutions. This was the position of the great American President Abraham Lincoln a century ago; it is the position in America today of the increasingly influential school of economists based on the University of Chicago. Social Credit has nothing to do with the conventional political philosophies of the left or the right. It is concerned with using the machinery of the state to arrest the drift within the capitalist system towards increasing socialization and centralization, evidenced by the growth of huge corporations through company mergers, and of large farming units through land aggregation.  Basic Ideas. Social Credit policies are derived from two basic ideas concerning the operation of the financial system of the western world: Money has no value in itself, but is a medium (in the form of coins, bank notes, cheques) for the exchange of all goods and services produced. It follows that money should be created in sufficient amount to permit the purchase of all goods and services produced by the community. Notions that money must be scarce or valuable are fallacious, for there should be as much money as is needed to balance incomes with the value of total production. Sovereignty over the creation of a nation’s money supply belongs to the people, because the use of money is for the exchange of the goods and services they produce. It follows that when new money is created (usually in the form of credit) it should be by an agency delegated the task by the people, and should be at no cost to the people. There is no justification for money to be treated as a commodity bringing profit to a few.  Failure of The System. Widespread failure to understand these concepts has resulted in a defective financial system unable to cope with the complex demands of the twentieth century world, and causing many injustices and inequities. Worldwide economic recessions periodically result in unnecessary restriction of production and hardship to populations in an era when science and technology have provided men with the power to produce more than ever before. Continuous inflation erodes the purchasing power of money: New Zealand's money in the calendar year 1971 dropped 9.1 per cent in purchasing power. If each nation, however, correctly balanced the purchasing power of its people with the value of their production of goods and services, then both inflation and deflation would he eliminated, costs would be lowered, and the maximum growth of the Gross National Product (the total value of goods and services produced in one year) would result. But this requires that Governments adopt a financial policy of judicious credit creation, interest-free or debt-free (non-repayable) as circumstances warrant, in such a way as to stimulate production. This in turn would allow the creation of more credit to balance it. At present, because nearly all money comes into existence bearing a charge calculated for the profit of financial institutions, New Zealand is in fact following a policy of continuous creation of debt. All interest charges must be passed on, and thus they form a major element in the cost structure of the nation. A private investor is entitled to a fair return on capital he has earned by his own efforts, and Social Credit recognizes this. But private institutions are not entitled to profit from the initial creation of money, because, when issued, money is the property of the whole community. Thus the founder of Social Credit, the late Major C. H. Douglas, wrote in his book ‘Economic Democracy’: There is no doubt whatever that the first step towards dealing with the problem is the recognition of the fact that what is commonly called credit by the banker is administered by his primarily for private profit, whereas it is most definitely communal property. The cost of governing New Zealand could be reduced ultimately by about ten per cent if interest charges on state borrowing did not have to be paid. If New Zealand's primary and secondary industries could obtain cheaper finance, their costs would be lowered, and the result would be lower prices for all consumers. But the longer the present system continues in operation with interest compounding upon interest, the more the trend continues towards large monopolies in business. Only large units can survive the debt-tax-cost spiral. The paradoxical result is increasing socialization within the framework of capitalism. True private enterprise is slowly squeezed out.  The Social Credit Remedy. Simply stated, then, the aim of Social Credit is to preserve private enterprise and the freedom of the individual by greater state issue of credit. Only the state Was the moral authority (derived from the democratic election of the Government) and the means (the central bank) to create sufficient purchasing power to benefit both private enterprise and the citizen, without at the same time causing inflation. The present cost inflation-afflicting New Zealand and most of the world has the same effect on the erosion of the purchasing power of money as if Governments were printing money without regard for production. Although since 1965 the Gross National Product has risen in value by $1,941 million the money supply has increased by only $99111. To make up for this scarce supply of money in an expanding economy the velocity of its circulation has increased by 74.8 per cent since 1965. But the price paid for this is high interest rates charged by the fringe banking institutions which circulate the money. These high interest charges are simply translated into high costs. Because the Government takes part in this rapid turnover of the money supply, borrowing heavily instead of creating more of its own money interest-free, the costs of governing New Zealand rise too. Between 1905 and 1971 the public debt (now over $3000 million) rose $867.4 million which requires $153 million interest payments a year or 11 per cent of the budget. This vicious spiraling action in the economy has to be stopped. Abraham Lincoln, looking far ahead of his time, pointed the way when he said: "The Government should create, issue and circulate all the currency and credit needed to satisfy the spending power of the Government and the buying power of the consumers. The privilege of creating and issuing money is not only the supreme prerogative of the Government, but it is the Government's greatest creative opportunity. Social Credit believes that in a scientific and technological age, man can remedy the deficiencies of his economic system by adjusting it as an engineer adjusts a machine, rather than by making radical social and political changes of the sort proposed by socialist and fascist parties. As Major Douglas put it, the public has to free themselves from the power of their own economic machine, and use the immense heritage which science and industry have placed at their disposal. As an engineer, he was particularly impressed by the fact that many developments physically possible from the engineer's point of view are financially impossible because of the system. Thus Social Credit seeks to solve the problem of distributing the abundance of goods which machines can now produce. Men cannot be truly free or achieve the fullest measure of self-realization, despite well-meant political forms, unless they have economic security, a freedom of choice both as producers and consumers. This is what is meant by economic democracy. Socialism is not an answer, because it simply means further centralization of economic and political power. Experience with socialism has shown there is no magic in state ownership. Social Credit destroys the mechanism by which economic power over the individual is increased, the monopoly of credit. Social Credit takes the view that the end of man is not labour but self-development and enjoyment, the end of production is not employment but consumption and the unfettered application of modern technology and sources of energy can produce the material basis of a better life for the mass of the people, while leaving them much more leisure for enjoyment and self-fulfillment. In the age of the computer and automation, Social Credit has come into its own.  Social Credit in Action. It is half a century since Douglas wrote his first major works, and many of the points he made are now widely accepted. Thus New Zealand Governments have learned to make use of Reserve Bank credit at low interest rates for supporting our produce marketing authorities. (When Douglas wrote, New Zealand did not even have a central bank.) Comparison of his remarks on the creation of credit with the relevant sections of most modern economics textbooks reveals his remarkable perception of how the financial system actually worked. The ideas of Abraham Lincoln on the money system are also very much alive. The Committee on Banking and Currency of the United States House of Representatives issued a report in 1964 which cited Lincoln's remarks with approval and added: "It is no more or less inflationary for the private banks to create $l billion of new money than it is for the Government to create $l billion of new money. The Chicago school of economists led by Professor Milton Friedman (an economics adviser to President Nixon) contend, like Social Credit, that the volume of money circulating in an economy is the crucial factor determining economic health. Steady and moderate monetary growth, instead of stop go measures, will bring economic stability, the avoidance of both deflation and inflation, they believe. This will provide the monetary climate favorable for the stimulation of private enterprise, ingenuity and invention. They propose that Congress should instruct the United States central bank to increase the money supply by a specified figure, say three to five per cent a year, for it is undesirable in a democracy that there should be no effective legislative control over the powers of men in charge of the monetary system. A notable vindication of Social Credit ideas in recent times was the adoption by the International Monetary Fund in 1968 of the scheme for Special Drawing Rights, the so-called paper gold." This amounts to the deliberate creation of international money to finance world trade, the volume of which since the Second World War has rapidly outstripped available reserves based on gold. The New Zealand Minister of Finance publicly admitted that the scheme is similar to Social Credit ideas. And New Zealand now holds in its overseas reserves account a total of $47,4 million from such credit creation. The haphazard application of some Social Credit principles will not however, produce the results that are needed. Until the people of New Zealand are prepared to elect a Government pledged to implement the full Social Credit programme, inflation and recessions will continue.  Major Douglas said in his book Social Credit: So far from the mere sustenance of life through the production of food, clothing and shelter being the prime objective of human endeavour, it should now be possible to relegate it to the position of a semi-automatic process." With the subsequent development of automation which he foresaw, it is now possible to say that mankind can be freed from wage slavery for a new and richer kind of life. This era is still some years away, but now is the time to prepare for it. In due course, with the achievement of a full Social Credit economy, a National Dividend will be paid to ensure a guaranteed income for all citizens. A need for this is already recognized by progressive economists in both the United States and the United Kingdom.  A Practicable Policy. Social Creditors, having the vision of the benefits that will result from a Social Credit economy, unite in promoting the policy outlined in the following pages. It is a practicable policy, because in essence it amounts to the full implementation of legislation already on de New Zealand statute books, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 1964. This Act gives the Reserve Bank power on behalf of the Government to regulate and control money, banking, banking transactions, credit and currency having regard to "the highest degree of production, trade and employment and of maintaining a stable internal price level. Social Credit notes that these things are not being done, and therefore proposes a different credit policy. In brief, this involves the greater use of Reserve Bank credit at cost of issue, and where appropriate debtfree, for Government and local body capital works. The total volume of credit issued will be controlled by a National Credit Authority so as to avoid inflation or deflation. These are some of the early benefits which will follow from the application of the Social Credit policy:  1. The cost spiral (caused by mounting service charges on money obtained by conventional borrowing at high rates of interest) will be halted.  2. Taxation and local body rates will be reduced.  3. Production will be stimulated by such incentives. (The Social Credit bilateral trading policy, involving reciprocal credits with countries willing to cooperate will ensure the marketing of this increased production.)  4. More savings will be released for investment in both primary and secondary industry.  5. The people, through their elected Government, will have greater control over the total issue of credit, which after all is created against the security of their combined efforts.  TENETS OF SOCIAL CREDIT. Our Principles:  (a) Our basic principle is the establishment of an economic and social order built on the foundations of brotherly love, truth, justice and honest endeavour.  (b) We believe that what is physically possible and desirable for the betterment of mankind should be made financially possible.  (c) We believe that the individual is more important than the state and that systems should be made for man, not man for systems.  (d) We believe that restrictive forms of political and financial dictatorship, monopoly and bureaucracy should be strenuously opposed.  (e) We believe in competitive and cooperative enterprise and that state-owned businesses should conform to the same conditions as privately owned concerns. We believe that the function of Government is to set fair rules.  (f) We believe that the only proper purpose of production is consumption and that labour saving is the proper purpose of labour-saving inventions.  (g) We believe that the first necessity in establishing our principles is to reform our present un-Christian monetary system which is dishonest and unjust and is the basic cause of many other evils.  Our Purpose:  (a) To secure to the people of New Zealand the beneficial use and control of their own credit and currency.  (b) To establish an economy where the people will be able to develop and expand the country's real wealth without mortgaging their own and their children's future.  (c) to restore and stabilize the purchasing power of money, thereby enhancing and protecting the value of wages, pensions and savings.  (d) To encourage the introduction of all forms of automation, thereby increasing production and the standard of living.  (e) To encourage skill in all fields of endeavor by ensuring that skill is justly rewarded.  (f) To promote the speedy introduction of labour saving devices, both industrial and domestic.  (g) To ensure that, in an age of increasing automation with machines progressively taking over the work of more and more men, incomes will nevertheless be maintained so that all may share in the benefits of automation.  (h) To increase the opportunity for engaging in, and facilities available for educational, cultural and recreational activities.  (i) To recover complete control of New Zealand's economic affairs and establish greater political independence.  Our First Steps  (a) We will introduce a Bill of Rights for New Zealand, to limit the power of Government and safeguard the individual against the invasion of rights and liberties.  (b) We shall secure to the people of New Zealand the ownership of their own credit by setting up a National Credit Authority, responsible to Parliament, in which will be vested the power to authorize and control the issue of all credit and currency. The National Credit Authority will be charged with the duty of preparing proper statements of the National Accounts, including a National Balance Sheet, showing the true wealth and financial position of the country.  (c) We shall eliminate internal Government borrowing and progressively redeem the internal national debt. External debt will be repaid as circumstances permit.  (d) We shall reduce taxation.  (e) We shall increase pensions and other benefits to ensure that the recipients are able to maintain a reasonable standard of living comparable with other sections of the community.  (f) We shall introduce a compensating price scheme on essential commodities and gradually extend it to cover a far wider range of consumer goods.  (g) We shall provide from the National Credit Account finance for approved public and local body works at cost of issue.  (h) We shall substantially increase the proportion of the national resources allocated to education.  (i) We shall enter into bilateral and reciprocal trade agreements on diversified markets.  The financial measures contained in these first steps will lower the whole cost structure, increase the purchasing power of the dollar, restore individual incentive and stimulate production.  POLICY for 1972. FINANCE.  1. Ownership of Credit. We will restore to the people the ownership of their own credit, so that they will be the ultimate and major beneficiaries of its use.  2. National Credit Authority.  (a) The National Credit Authority will be established by statute and will comprise suitably qualified persons who will carry out their function free from political interference.  (b) It will determine the limits of the total volume of credit creation, such limits to be related to the value of the nation's total production of goods and Services.  (c) It will be charged with the duty of preparing proper statements of the national accounts, including a National Balance Sheet, showing the true wealth and financial position of the country. These accounts will be presented in conformity with modern accounting practice and will be tabled More Parliament annually.  (d) The National Credit Authority will ensure that the income of the people equates with the value of goods and services available for consumption.  1. Government Finance. Money required for Government purposes within New Zealand, over and above that received from revenue, will be provided from the National Credit Account at the Reserve Bank interest-free, and, where circumstances warrant, debt-free.  2. Local Body Finance. We shall provide from the National Credit Account loans free of interest, but with an administrative charge only, to local bodies for approved local body works. Priorities will be determined by the Local Authorities Loans Board. In certain circumstances, debt-free grants may be issued.  3. National Debt. We shall eliminate internal Government borrowing and progressively redeem the internal National Debt. External debt will be repaid as circumstances permit.  6. Banking and Investments.  (a) Normal business relations between the trading banks and their customers will remain undisturbed. Within the limits defined by the National Credit Authority, credits will be issued through the trading banks as agents at reasonable rates of interest sufficient to recompense the trading banks for their services.  (b) Post Office and Trustee Savings Banks will be maintained as repositories for the people's savings and equitable rates of interest will be paid. Full cheque facilities will be made available to depositors.  (c) Savings institutions such as Building Societies will be encouraged to invest in private industry. The present directives insisting that a percentage of loan money be channeled into Government Stock will be revoked.  (d) The Trustee Act 1956 will be amended to enable trustee investments to be made in approved agricultural and industrial undertakings.  (e) A National Investment Corporation will be established to advise on avenues of investment, and investments approved by the Corporation will be state guaranteed.  (f) Existing State Trading Enterprises shall be converted to Corporations.  7. Finance Companies. The Hire Purchase regulations will be overhauled to place Interest Rates on a day to day basis.  8. Stabilization. To stabilize the price of living and ensure that the benefits accruing to the nation from the implementation of a Social Credit economy are safeguarded, we shall:  (a) Establish Compensating Prices on essential commodities and gradually extend them to cover a far wider range of consumer goods, without adding to taxation.  (b) Revise the administration of the Control of Prices Act 1947 and the Trade Practices Act 1958.  9. Monopolies and Takeovers.  (a) In the interests of consumers adequate legislation will be introduced to govern business monopolies and takeovers.  (b) Social Credit will establish an Anti-trust Board charged with examining company aggregation.  (c) If it is shown that the aggregation of resources is necessary, Social Credit will convert this type of Monopoly into a Cooperative.  (d) Those companies which cannot be fragmented will be subject to Price Control.  10. Taxation.  (a) We shall increase the personal exemption from income tax and also the exemption claimable in respect of a wife or housekeeper, children and dependent relatives.  (b) We shall progressively reduce indirect taxation.  (c) Death duties will be abolished on estates up to $40,000, tax to begin at $40,001 value. Farms and family businesses passed on to immediate members of the family will be eligible for an additional exemption of $40,000 provided legatees operate them for seven years. A further death within that period of seven years will not entail further death duties.  (d) The Payroll Tax will be repealed.  11. Company Taxation. A revision of company taxation will be undertaken to ensure greater equity and increased incentive.  12. Export Credit Account. The National Credit Authority shall establish an Export Credit Account for those nations wishing to reciprocate. Credit exchanged shall equate with the value of goods to which any reciprocal trading arrangement shall apply. The Export Credit Account shall balance, and credit exchanged with willing Nations will be provided upon consultation and in conjunction with producer organisations represented on a Board of Trade.  13. International Clearing House. A Social Credit Government will initiate negotiations with Governments of other Nations to establish in International Clearing House for currency.  14. Special Drawing Rights. We are interested to see that the International Monetary Fund has recognized the need for the creation of credit to facilitate international trade by proposals for Special Drawing Rights. This is an admission that the previous system was not working and that it was possible and practicable to create credit internationally, relating it to production. The Managing Director of the I.M.F., Mr Pierre Paul Schweitzer, explained the nature of the S.D.R.'s thus in 1967: "These Special Drawing Rights, created, as it were, by a stroke of the pen, will be essentially entries in the books of the Fund." The League has stated for years the need for, and the practicability of relating the money and credit supply to the total value of goods and services. Now that this has been recognized internationally, we look forward to recognition nationally. Social Credit will not borrow from the I.M.F.  LOCAL GOVERNMENT. Social Credit believes in the decentralization of control and to this end a Social Credit Government will allow local bodies greater scope in which to operate, with resulting benefits to the people they serve. We recognize the duty of the central government as being to establish a climate in which local bodies may be free and able to develop their communities.  1. Administration.  (a) To eliminate existing anomalies, consolidation and revision of the statutes governing counties and municipalities will be undertaken in consultation with the New Zealand Counties and Municipal Associations.  (b) In rural areas particularly, the incorporation of ad hoc authorities with the major local body, for administrative purposes only, would be encouraged where economy and efficiency could be improved.  (c) City Councilors, Borough and County Councilors will declare their financial interests to a committee appointed by the judiciary, on being elected to their offices.  2. Finance. Subject to approval by the Local Authorities Loans Board loans for development will be made available free of interest but with an administrative charge only. In certain circumstances, free grants will be provided to make possible the establishment of basic community amenities such as water supply and drainage and sewerage systems. Such assistance will speed development and relieve communities of heavy demands for debt servicing which will in turn halt the continual rise in rates.  3. Rating (See Appendix). The present outdated, inequitable, and costly system of assessing local body rates will be phased out and replaced by a system based on land classification in the case of rural land, and, in the case of urban property, zoning in accordance with the approved town plan. Local bodies will have the option of rating on a zonal and/or riding basis.  Benefits referred to in section 2 above will lessen the importance of rating as a source of revenue.  4. Boundary Changes. In all cases where boundary changes are proposed, a poll of the ratepayers concerned will be taken and a majority decision will be required before any change is made.  5. Ward Representation. A ward system of representation on local bodies may be decided at a poll on the petition of 5 per cent of ratepayers in the area.  6. Local Body Housing. Pensioner housing schemes will receive greater encouragement and liberalization of the Rural Housing Act 1939 will be considered.  7. Civil Defence. We shall continue to have local civil defence organizations administered by local bodies and we shall reimburse them their administrative costs which are at present an added burden to their already strained finances.  8. Noxious Weeds. Greater amounts of finance will be provided to unable all noxious weeds to be controlled.  9. Urban Renewal. A Social Credit Government will recognize the urgency of dealing with the problems of urban renewal and will take early steps to establish positive programmes in cooperation with local authorities.  10. Municipal Composting. Local authorities wishing to establish composting plants will be assisted financially to encourage the composting of sewage wastes. The interdepartmental committee for refuse disposal of organic wastes will be reconstituted to actively promote such schemes and to coordinate them with pollution control under the Water and Soil Conservation Act 1967.  11. Crematoria. Local bodies in our larger centres will be encouraged to provide crematoria and financial assistance will be given towards this end.  12. Referenda. Where a local body has held a referendum on any issue, the result will be binding until varied by a further referendum.  13. The Ombudsman. The jurisdiction of he Ombudsman will be extended to cover all local bodies.  14. Trust Taverns. Social Credit will ensure the establishment of Trust Taverns where public support shows a demand for same. (This authority is already in the licensing Trust Act 1949 for the Minister of Finance to administer Loan Money for Trust Taverns).  15. Financial Year. To bring our National Accounting system into accord with New Zealand's trading pattern, the financial year will end on June 30.  INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. A Social Credit economy provides the groundwork for a type of employer/employee relationship which has hitherto been unattainable in an order of society based on a system of finance unable to meet the requirements of modern industrial progress. We see a proper relationship as one in which no member of our society benefits unless he benefits others; in which all members, according to their contribution of effort and skill, receive their fair and proper share of the standard of living they make possible; in which wage earners reassert their dignity and self-respect as vital members of the productive community together with their fellows in business management, farming and the professions, all engaged in the task of building a better New Zealand which we may all enjoy. Social Credit believes in the principle of mutual employer-worker shareholding and profit sharing and worker participation in industrial management.  1. Incomes. We shall ensure that wage earners receive an income from their basic weekly employment which is adequate to provide a good standard of living for themselves and their families.  2. Industrial Relations. Industrial Relations will be based on the principle of encouraging industrial co-operation and harmony between workers and employers, unions and management through negotiated terms. A Social Credit Government will play an active role in apparently irreconcilable industrial disputes. Social Credit will establish a scheme for industrial employees to acquire part ownership of the capital in the industry in which they are employed.  3. Minister for Labour. The Ministry of Labour will be considered a full-time portfolio.  4. Education.  (a) Courses in industrial relations will be included in any management study programmes at established N.Z. universities.  (b) Top priority will be given to the establishment at Technical Institutes of training courses, for key personnel in industry. e.g. overseers, foremen. These courses will teach the skills the jobs require.  5. Trade Unions. We acknowledge the right of all workers to organize and strive to improve their conditions, rates of pay and hours of work. We also see trade unions as a source of knowledge and skill co-operating with industrial management to achieve greater progress for all. A Social Credit Government will encourage unions to reform on an industry basis.  6. Conciliation and Arbitration. We affirm our endorsement of the principle of conciliation and arbitration in the settlement of industrial disputes. We shall investigate the provisions and administration of the present Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1954 and carry out such revisions as may be found desirable to expedite prompt action in dealing with industrial disputes.  7. Automation. Social Credit welcomes automation because its enlightened financial policy is geared to receive it. The wage earner need have nothing to fear from automation as his income is assured and will have more buying power to allow his full participation in the increased national standards of living which will result.  8. Employment. We uphold the principle of full employment. All wage earners displaced for any reason, whether from economic conditions or from automation, will be paid their award rate until other employment is available. If however, a worker refuses employment near his home and suited to his capabilities, he will cease to receive the award rate. Such employment may include attendance at a training establishment.  9. Margin for Skill. It will be our object to establish thirty-three and one third per cent as the margin between skilled and unskilled workers after consultation with trade unions and industry.  10. Safety. Present legislation on the subject of industrial safety will be revised and strengthened in its administration so that it may better safeguard workers against accidents and also minimize the loss to industry of valuable man-hours.  11. Research. We shall foster and assist the expansion of industrial research and training to improve the natural efficiency and ability of New Zealand workers. Scholarships will be made available to enable them to study and train overseas.  12. Co-operative Enterprise. We favour the principle of co-operative enterprise. In the case of monopoly in any industry we shall actively assist in the formation of co-operative supply organizations so that small operators will be free from the dictates of monopoly groups.  13. Holidays. We shall arrange a meeting of interested parties to study the possibility of staggering annual holidays throughout the year in order to ensure the provision of adequate services at all times. There will be a minimum of three weeks annual leave for all workers permanently employed.  14. Business finance. We shall financially assist suitably qualified workers wishing to establish their own businesses. This will be available under conditions similar to those provided under the rehabilitation scheme for ex-servicemen.  RACE RELATIONS AND MAORI AND ISLAND AFFAIRS. Our immediate policy will be to meet the needs of Polynesians resulting largely through urbanisation.  1. Race Relations. Social Credit recognises the need for extensive research into race relation and the whole area of cultural adjustments as the necessary basis for the pursuance of enlightened policies in this area by appropriate government departments. A Social Credit Government would support the immediate establishment of a fully equipped, and adequately staffed university based race relations research and study centre.  2. Parliament. The number of Maori seats in Parliament will be increased from 4 to 7.  3. A Treaty of Waitangi. A Social Credit Government will pass legislation to  enact the non-retrospective ratification of the land and citizenship provisions of the Treaty of Waitangi with the exception of the crown pre-emption clause.  4. Departments. The following will be phased out as soon as they become redundant:  (a) The Post of Minister of Maori and Island Affairs.  (b) The Department of Maori and Island Affairs.  (c) The Maori Social and Economic Act 1945 and the organisations created by this Act.  (d) The staff and duties of de Department will be relocated and incorporated into the appropriate Government Departments.  5. Maori Land Court. The Maori Land Court will be retained as a separate  body.  6. Land. Land utilisation committees comprising Maori owners  and representatives of associated Government departments will be established to deal with the immediate problem of correct land use, and will be ultimately dispensed with when they have served their purpose.  7. Culture. Social Credit will set up a committee consisting of Maori elders and learned fellow New Zealanders to preserve and promote Maori culture, so that all New Zealanders will become more conscious of their Polynesian heritage. To this end:  (a) Every effort will be made to provide courses, urgently, for those willing to teach Maori language and culture in schools.  (b) A basic course in Polynesian Studies will be provided for all teachers in training.  (c) The Maori Arts Centre at Rotorua will be expanded with a view to training more craftsmen, providing information on Maori arts, and selling products in New Zealand and overseas.  (d) The use of Maori motifs (rafter patterns, etc.) will be encouraged in the manufacture of appropriated goods, e.g., textiles, and also on wrappings and trademarks.  (e) Because old Maori artifacts are scarce and invaluable, they will not be allowed out of New Zealand unless they are on loan to museums or for exhibitions.  8. Education.  (a) Maori Education Foundation. We will provide generous financial assistance to the Maori Education Foundation. The League appreciates that the Foundation arose through a realisation by the Maoris of the importance of promoting education and that it is an example of self-help.  (b) Education Grants. Specific additional grants will be made for the education of pupils from depressed urban environments.  9. Vocational Guidance. Special vocational guidance officers will be appointed. By liaison with schools and parents they will advise all Maori schoolleavers and where possible direct them into skilled occupations requiring further training. (Note: At present 80 per cent of Maoris are in occupations classed as unskilled. There is an urgent need for a higher ratio of Maoris in other occupational levels.)  10. Pre-vocational Courses. Orientation courses for Maori youths moving to the  cities will be extended. Pre-vocational courses at technical institutes will be available for all Maori youths who could benefit.  11. Community Centres. Increased financial assistance will also be given to the  building and extending of community centres, as these serve a valuable purpose in assisting adaptation to city life.  12. Tribal Trust Boards. The League will restore the purchasing power of Tribal Trust Board incomes to their original level, by subsidy or by a re-assessment of original grants. (Note: Because of the depreciation in the value of money,  Tribal Trust Board incomes have been eroded, and some boards have been forced to curtail benefits at a time when a rapidly expanding youthful population needs every assistance.  13. Waitangi Day. Waitangi Day (February 6) will be a national holiday as it commemorates the birth of a New Zealand nation in which all people have equal rights.  14. Housing. Special local body regulations will be formulated to enable the Department of Maori and Island Affairs to experiment with new architectural housing and settlement designs more in tune with traditional Maori and Polynesian kinship and cultural patterns.  15. Forest Stands. Funds will be made available for establishing forest stands on Maori land, in similar fashion to the present farm forestry loans scheme.  NATURAL RESOURCES AND CONSERVATION. Land is our heritage, indeed the very basis of this country's existence. The principle of private ownership is one of trust to ensure that future generations will receive it in as good a condition or better than when it was first developed. No one will be permitted to speculate in or abuse or destroy land, which is the basic producer of wealth. New Zealand's natural resources must be developed for the benefit of all New Zealanders and soil conservation must be regarded in a protection of our greatest natural resource, the land. A legally enforceable conservation code will be established and administered by the Department of Justice to ensure that manufacturers and industrialists conserve our natural resources. Social Credit will do everything possible to prevent pollution of air, soil, and water.  1. Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Every New Zealander is very conscious that a new philosophy is urgently required in order to preserve our natural resources, and to enable it scientific and common-sense approach to this all important problem. To this end, therefore, a Social Credit Government will create a new Ministerial position of senior status, that of Natural Resources and Environment; and for the purposes of resource use all land users will be responsible to the Minister. The Ministry will have a fully effective department whose function it will be to determine scientifically, on the basis of physical properties of the soil, topography and economics, the optimum land use, and to formulate a broad national land use policy. Acting on the necessity to promote multiple land use a Social Credit Government will initiate a programme for a balanced agricultural system involving the strategic placement of forests or stands of trees.  2. Conservation. A Social Credit Government will initiate a policy requiring the recycling of all agricultural, industrial and municipal wastes by one of the following:  (a) Reprocessing them into by-products.  (b) Converting them into balanced fertilisers.  (c) Controlling their return to the environment in non-toxic bio-degradable forms.  3. Education.  (a) Social Credit will introduce a planned course of instruction in Human Ecology and Environmental Studies in primary and secondary schools.  (b) A degree course in Human Ecology and Environmental Studies will be established in N.Z. Universities.  4. Pollution Control  (a) Safety and pollution standards for motorised transport will be set and enforced.  (b) Smokeless zones will be established in urban areas.  5. Manapouri. The level of Lake Manapouri will not be raised above the mean present high water level and Social Credit will renegotiate with Comalco.  6. Lakeweed Control. Control by mechanical harvesting with a view to composting or for fodder will be favoured, though where appropriate biological control will be considered.  7. Offshore Assets. To prevent over-exploitation of the coastline commercial trawling and/or seine netting will be prohibited to a distance of 3 miles from the shoreline in specified areas.  8. Marine Reserve. An area one nautical mile around the main islands of the Poor Knights and the Pinnacles will become a Marine Reserve.  9. Basic and Renewable Resources. The Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Act 1941 the Water and Soil Conservation Act 1967, the Nature Conservation Act 1967, the Nature Conservation Council Act 1962 and other relevant legislation will be suitably amended to provide for the above functions and duties under the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment. The national soil and water organization will be suitably reorganized in order to serve the policy requirements under the new Ministry which will be charged with soil and water conservation as an over-riding authority. All departments administering the land and its use will be subsidiary to, and act as agents of, the Minister. As a first major step the qualifications of professional officers employed on soil and water conservation will be considerably improved and a major training scheme, predominantly overseas in the first instance, will be put into effect. The management of water is inseparable from soil conservation, and the Minister will be responsible for the control of all waterways, and for the delivery of water for all purposes. In general, each catchment will have one over-riding objective of management to which other objectives will be subordinate. The resources of the sea are of no less importance to the future well being of this country than the resources of the land, and must in consequence be managed to ensure a continuing yield.  10. Non-Renewable Resources. All minerals are inherently part of New Zealand's basic wealth and belong to New Zealanders collectively. All mineral wealth, therefore, must be secured to the Crown on behalf of the people. Minerals are not unlimited, and although we may not be in a position to exploit all our raw materials at present we shall need them in time. Our policy will be to ration these resources as a basis for manufacture or processing in this country. Although export of minerals in a raw state may appear attractive from time to time, this should not be permitted to obscure the major long-term advantages of retaining them for our own use as and when we require them. The present mining regulations will be amended to ensure that all mining operations as they affect our first and second class land and mineral resources will be evaluated on the basis of the long-term benefit to New Zealand. This responsibility will lie with the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment.  11. Land Use Committees. Land Use Committees will be established from suitable professional personnel from interested professional bodies to advise the Minister on the correct land usage within each region. These Committees will also make recommendations to the Lands and Survey Department which will administer the Town and Country Planning Act 1953 to which all land transactions will be subject.  12. Urban Development. In order to utilize our land to the best advantage, all land adjacent to major cities and boroughs, when offered for sale or subdivision, will be purchased by the Crown at a negotiated price. Following classification of the said areas, titles will be issued with sufficient protection to ensure the best possible usage.  13. Endowment Land. As local bodies will no longer be dependent on revenue from endowment land under a Social Credit economy, these areas, subject to their being classified as farm land, will be brought within the scope of the Land Act 1948 which would give the lessees the right of freehold.  14. Crown Leasehold. The Land Act 1948 will he amended to ensure that rentals on all Crown leaseholds will be fixed with due regard to the productive capacity of the unit concerned, and the lessee will be given just value for his improvements. The purchase of Crown Leasehold on deferred payment license without deposit will be introduced.  15. Rating (See Appendix). The present outdated, inequitable, and costly system of assessing local body rates will be phased out and replaced by a system based on land classification in the case of rural land, and, in the case of urban property, zoning in accordance with the approved town plan. Local bodies will have the option of rating on a riding and/or zonal basis.  16. Farm Holdings. It will be the objective of a Social Credit Government, by reducing and ultimately stabilizing costs, to ensure that farm holdings remain economic from one generation to the next, and thus protect the individual's equity in the land.  17. Land Investment. Social Credit is opposed to foreign interests or foreign persons buying N.Z. land titles and/or mineral rights unless it can be proved to be an advantage to N.Z. Social Credit opposes the sale of Crown or Public land to overseas interests.  18. Acclimatization Societies. Voluntary organizations such as Acclimatization Societies will continue their present valuable administrative role. We align ourselves with all organisations opposed to takeovers of our inherited rights.  19. Noxious Animals. The present policy of extermination will be replaced by a policy of control, although the extermination policy will be retained in certain critical areas. We are very much in favour of private hunting, both for our young population and for visitors to this country. Where the over-riding prescription for any area of land is for hunting and other recreation, we intend to assist with access and accommodation. We are sympathetic to the orderly development of meat hunting for export as an economic method of controlling noxious animals.  20. Noxious Weeds. New Zealand cannot afford the continuing loss of private and public land to noxious weeds. Eradication, or at least control, will be pursued with the utmost vigour on all land, whether publicly or privately owned. Where private individuals cannot stand the cost of this, the finance will be made available interest-free as a charge against the property.  HOUSING. We believe that the family unit is the most important social factor for a stable, prosperous and united nation. The individual is largely the product of his environment, and therefore high priority will be given by a Social Credit Government to improving housing standards. To ensure that existing services are utilized to the full, to reduce the cost of providing essential services, and to contain urban sprawl within reasonable bounds, it is essential that a new architectural approach be made to ensure that the privacy of the individual is protected, whilst planning for higher density living. Home ownership will be encouraged to the full. Private enterprise, local bodies and central Government should combine to provide the pressing needs for rental accommodation. We believe that a number of present-day social problems can be overcome by ensuring that an integrated cross-section of the community is provided for in all housing development planning.  1. Urban Development (See also policy on Natural Resources and Land  Administration). As there is only a limited amount of first class land in New Zealand the emphasis will be on the use of second and third class land for housing. The concept of the satellite suburb or township, with the provision of first class rail and road communications to serve them, will be fostered.  2. Re-development. The prime function of local bodies and Government should be in the field of reconstruction. In larger towns and cities there are decaying areas which require reconstruction. Finance will be made available to local bodies undertaking this type of work.  3. State Advances Corporation. The State Advances Corporation will continue to provide finance for housing under the following conditions:  (a) The interest rate will be no more than three per cent.  (b) Any proposition will be treated on its merits, whether it be for a new dwelling or for renovating or extending an existing one.  (c) The assistance of an architect in the drawing of plans and specifications can be included in the loan.  (d) Them will be no fixed limit for loan propositions, but restrictions will be determined rather on the ability to meet charges.  (e) Loans for houses on leasehold land will be dealt with on an equal basis to those on land held in fee simple.  4. Rural Housing. In country areas and rural towns we shall expedite the building of accommodation for civil servants, school teachers and other rural workers to ensure adequate services to the rural community.  5. Stamp Duty. It will be our ultimate aim to exempt from stamp duty, the first purchase of a house to be occupied by the purchaser up to the sum of $8,000.  1. Housing for Aged Parents. We will assist people to provide accommodation for their parents, if they are in receipt of the age benefit, in the following ways:  a. By introducing legislation to enable the construction of self-contained flats for parents as an addition to the existing home owned by the family.  b. Finance for these flats will be made available up to $3000 at 2% interest, $1500 of which will be an interest-free suspensory loan to be written off at the rate of $300 per annum, so long as the flat is occupied by one or both of the parents.  FOREIGN AFFAIRS. A Social Credit Government’s foreign policy will be based on the following principles:  a. N.Z.’s sovereign independence of action in international relations.  b. Non-intervention in the internal affairs of other nations.  c. Decisions involving N.Z. in overseas commitments, whether by treaty or deployment of military forces, will be made by a free vote in parliament, not by cabinet alone.  d. Social Credit believes that N.Z. should maintain and develop trading, sporting and cultural contacts with all Peoples und Nations of the World in the interests of International Peace.  1. Crown and Commonwealth. A Social Credit Government will affirm our allegiance to the British Crown as head of State in N.Z., and loyalty to the Commonwealth concept.  2. Pacific Area. Although our external efforts shall be directed primarily towards the people of the South Pacific, a Social Credit Government will expand economic and cultural co-operation and communication with the nations of the Pacific Basin as a whole and S.E. Asia, and will co-operate with these nations towards their attaining social and economic self-determination. To further these ends we will:  (a) Promote trade, using a system of reciprocal credits.  (b) Reduce restrictions and tariffs on imports from these countries.  (c) Provide assistance in educational programmes.  (d) Ensure that N.Z. has its own diplomatic representation in these countries.  (e) Provide financial assistance and encouragement of local industry to create job opportunities in areas previously N.Z. dependencies.  3. International Relations and Organisations  (a) We shall support the United Nations Organization in its efforts to preserve peace and harmony, and will co-operate with all nations in this endeavour.  (b) We shall support the specialized agencies of the United Nations insofar as they work for true freedom, peace and economic security for peoples and nations.  (c) We are opposed to such mandatory international agreements as Breton Woods and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade where they are against the interests of New Zealand. We will trade with other nations wishing to trade with us on a reciprocal, bilateral and mutual credit exchange basis.  (d) The repayment of all outstanding loans due to the I.M.F. will be a top priority.  4. Vietnam. Social Credit will expend the equivalent of the past annual cost of maintaining the N.Z. establishment in Vietnam on additional civil aid for the Vietnamese people.  5. China and Taiwan. N.Z. would recognise the Government of the People's Republic of China as well as the Taiwan Government.  SOCIAL SECURITY AND WELFARE. We believe that the strength and caliber of New Zealand as a nation tomorrow is directly related to the ability of preserving the sanctity and stability of the family unit today. We believe that by fundamental human right every New Zealander is entitled to a basic standard of living, and we will guarantee that no citizen, whether man, woman or child, will fall below the basic living standard for reasons beyond the control of the individual concerned.  1. Social Security. A Social Credit Government will recognize the fact that all citizens should benefit from the Social Security system.  (a) We shall increase pensions and other benefits to ensure that the recipients are able to maintain a reasonable living standard in comparison with other sections of the community.  (b) We will review and revise the Social Security system and remove anomalies and restrictions which unjustly penalize applicants for benefits.  (c) We will abolish the 7-day stand down clause of the S.S. Act whereby a benefit does not begin for a period of 7 days, in all cases.  (d) We will reduce the residential qualifications for the eligibility to receive benefits from a period of 20 years to 10 years.  (e) We will amend existing legislation to ensure that a married man is entitled to draw a Sick Benefit without his wife first ceasing to work.  (f) We will ensure that a self-employed person is able to draw a Sick Benefit without undergoing a means test.  (g) We will progressively increase the allowable income to all beneficiaries as a move towards the ultimate abolition of the means test.  (h) We believe that it is not the role of Government to exercise moral judgement, on the individual and will, therefore, abolish the relevant clause in the S.S. Act whereby a benefit is subject to a person's moral character.  2. Senior Citizens. A Social Credit Government will recognize the fact that Senior citizens have, in their earlier years, contributed to the wealth of the nation today, and as such, are entitled to receive a benefit in later years.  (a) We will introduce a revised universal Superannuation Scheme incorporating the present age benefit which will be payable at the age of 60 years for men and 55 years for women.  (b) Each year Universal Superannuitants will be entitled to an annual travel warrant which will be valid for a period of one month, and can be used on non-suburban road and rail services outside holiday periods.  (c) Universal Superannuitants will be exempt from paying the radio and television licence fee.  (d) Universal Superannuitants will be exempt from paying the telephone rental.  (e) Telephone and washing machines will be installed in all new blocks of pensioner flats.  (f) As a pilot scheme, Government sponsored villages, which will include low rental flats, and communal dining room and recreation facilities, will be constructed in the 4 main centres.  3. Rehabilitation and Advisory Service. A Social Credit Government will establish a Rehabilitation and Advisory Section of the Social Welfare Dept. The primary object will be to assist disabled and displaced persons to rehabilitate in order that they can achieve a maximum degree of physical and financial independence. The section will be staffed mainly with social workers who will liaise with the various welfare organizations and the Department of Labour. The role of the section will be as follows:  (a) To review all applications for a Rehabilitation Benefit.  (b) To advise and assist with job training that could lead to total or partial rehabilitation.  (c) To assist with placing in suitable and worthwhile employment the disabled or displaced persons who are capable of undertaking employment.  (d) To assist those people who have been displaced in employment because of automation, or the evolution and modernisation of business and industrial techniques. Assistance will be mainly with guidance and assistance in job training and education.  (e) To assist and guide young people who come from country areas to the cities for employment.  4. Solo Parents. In the case where one parent, through death or other causes is left with the responsibility of raising a family alone, the immediate concern of a Social Credit Government will be to preserve the family unit without any undue financial hardship, particularly with regard to the Welfare of the children.  (a) We will introduce a widow's adjustment payment which will be payable on one occasion only immediately following the death of the husband. The payment will be made to all widows with a dependent child. The amount of the payment will be increased according to the number of dependent children in the widow's care as at the date widowhood commenced.  (b) The amount of the present widow's benefit and mother's allowance will be increased substantially to ensure that a basic family living standard is maintained.  (a) The duration of marriage will not be a determining factor regarding the eligibility of a widow to receive a Widow's Benefit.  (b) In the case of a widower or deserted husband with dependent children, we will introduce a Housekeeper Benefit which will be payable to each widower or deserted husband, providing he and his children live together as a family unit.  (c) In the case of a deserted wife we will introduce an Emergency Benefit and the amount and conditions of the benefits will be substantially the same as for a Widow's Benefit. The Social Security Department will be empowered to take legal action to obtain reimbursement from the husband.  (f) In the case of legal separation we will introduce a system whereby all maintenance awards and agreements will be registered with the Social Welfare Dept. Upon registration, the amount of the award or agreement will be paid regularly by the Dept. which will be empowered to take steps required to secure the reimbursement from the husband. Maintenance awards and agreements will be subject to an automatic increase proportionate to any wage order increase. The husband shall have the right of appeal.  (g) In the case of an unmarried mother who decides to keep her child it is our concern that the child should have the same opportunities in life as other children. We believe that it is not the role of Government to enter into moral judgement in such cases. In order that an unmarried mother can work and devote her income to the upbringing of the child and maintenance of a home, we will introduce a Nursery Benefit which will be payable direct to approved nurseries and day care centres.  (h) In order to protect a child from hardship, an unmarried mother may apply for an emergency benefit during times of illness.  5. Handicapped Persons. It is the duty of Government, on behalf of the people, to ensure that the physically and intellectually handicapped are adequately provided for physically and financially, so that they may obtain the best of attention and enjoy a fair standard of living. The object of a Social Credit Government will be to assist the handicapped person to the point where the person is able to attain a maximum degree of physical and financial independence according to the degree of the disability.  (a) We will abolish the present invalid benefit and expand the sickness benefit to include those beneficiaries who are at present receiving an invalid benefit.  (b) We will introduce a Rehabilitation Benefit which will be made payable for the use of all persons who wish and are able to partly or totally take steps to overcome their handicap. This benefit may be payable without the beneficiaries first discontinuing their receipt of the sickness benefit. The purpose of this benefit is to provide a secure financial base to those people who require assistance as they grope their way back, to full or partial employment. The object of the Rehabilitation Benefit will be to cover the costs incurred in Rehabilitation, for example:  (1) The costs incurred to a person who, through disablement, finds it necessary to learn a new line of employment.  (2) The cost of special transport that is required in order that a disabled person can accept new employment.  (c) The Rehabilitation Benefit will be paid direct to the source that is providing the service that is necessary for the Rehabilitation of the individual.  6. Social Welfare Organisations. We believe that voluntary organisations provide a valuable adjust to the administration of Government policy as they are not bound by strict rules and regulations and can therefore show greater understanding and humanity in certain cases. These organisations will be given every encouragement in their work, and, where necessary, authority to direct expenditure. A Social Credit Government in recognition of the work of voluntary groups, particularly in the field of child welfare, will encourage and assist such organisations as Birthright, Heritage, Budgeting Advisory Service, Marriage Guidance Service and Prisoners' Aid to extend still further their fields of activity. As a first step in assisting such welfare organisations we will make travel grants available to welfare organisations in certain cases, in order that they may send personnel overseas to study the latest techniques.  7. Child Welfare. We believe that no child should suffer because of an imperfection of either parent, for example moral or criminal. We believe that any child afflicted with any physical or mental handicap should have the opportunity to lead as full and active a life as possible. Where suitable accommodation is not at present available, a Social Credit Government will provide buildings and vest such buildings in the name of trustees acting for the voluntary organisation involved. A Social Credit Government will make the following changes in the field of Child Welfare:  (a) Provide assistance by way of an Emergency Benefit to the parents of a child who requires special care, and who are faced with financial hardship because of the child's special needs.  (b) Encourage the adoption of parentless children and meet the cost of legal fees incurred in the case of an adopted child.  8. Appeals. A Social Credit Government will establish an Independent Appeal Board to hear appeals from persons who wish to dispute decisions made by the Social Security Commission.  9. Publicity. We shall give greater publicity to the benefits and methods of assistance which are written into legislation so that all eligible persons will know the extent and details of such legislation.  10. Automatic Adjustment. Percentage increases to wages as a result of General Wage Orders shall mean automatic percentage increases to pensions and similar benefits such as Superannuation payments.  YOUTH AND SPORT. Since the future of any country is dependent on the rising generation it will be the policy of a Social Credit Government to encourage and assist all groups or societies responsible for youthful activities, including sport, such as Scouts, Guides, St. John's Cadets. Outward Bound, etc., to ensure that the enthusiasm and energies of youth are channelled to good purpose.  1. National Youth Council. The National Youth Council will be given greater responsibility in the planning and promotion of youthful activities to ensure that moneys voted to it are distributed equitably and to the best advantage.  2. Base Sites and Equipment. Every assistance will be given through the Council for base areas to enable the establishment of sporting and youthful activities where such areas are necessary, and assistance will be given towards the necessary equipment for such establishments. Assistance will also be given by way of grants to ensure the continued administration of training schemes.  3. Outward Bound. When and where appropriate, such schools as Outward Bound will be established throughout the country.  4. Civil Defence. Co-ordination of various youthful activities with civil defence will be encouraged and assisted, in order that the energies of youth are utilized to the full. School groups could also be formed in a similar manner.  5. Social Service Corps. A Social Credit Government will encourage the immediate setting up of a volunteer N.Z. Social Service Corps.  6. Youth Hot Line. A Social Credit Government will establish a parliamentary Youth Hot Line, a spokesman for youth in cabinet.  7. Age of Majority. The age of majority will be lowered from twenty to eighteen years.  8. Overseas Sporting Tours. While we believe all teams should be selected on merit or ability we should accept teams sent by countries according to their own laws knowing full well that in every country people work to change laws.  BROADCASTING. The power of the news media to influence public opinion has never been greater than it is today. Radio and Television play a major role in this opinion-making process, and in certain countries, notably the U.S.A. private organisations spend huge sums to develop support for particular projects. The bulk of this money is spent on television, on sponsored programmes and slanted features, to convey the views the sponsors wish to promote. Large organisations own chains of radio and TV stations and on some stations it is impossible for a viewpoint other than that held by the management to be expressed. Though this situation has not developed in New Zealand, we consider there are inherent threats to our access to all facets of affairs of the moment. These threats are closer to fulfilment in certain proposals of the Government to grant a licence for a second television to a consortium representing large business interests and in which ordinary shareholders would for practical reasons be unable to effectively control policy or even appointments to the Board of Directors. The alternative proposal to allocate the second channel to the N.Z.B.C. would result in political domination of all television channels. This policy subservience is not de fault of the N.Z.B.C. which endeavours to be impartial and objective. It is the fault of the present Government, which, by legislating to establish a Broadcasting Authority and by other Legislation increased the size and authority of the Broadcasting Board to control the N.Z.B.C. and then proceeded to appoint party supporters to these bodies by blatant appointments of National Party members. We consider that the influence of T.V. on the opinion-making process in the community is so great that it is undesirable to leave the control entirely in the hands of any group subject to party or large commercial group pressures. We believe that the control of the second channel and of local and regional radio stations to be established should lie with appointees direct from the community, in the same manner as members of a liquor licensing trust, by triennial ballot. By this means the people retain direct control over their representatives and will be in a position to positively influence selection of programmes and news and special features.  Social Credit Policy.  1. The N.Z.B. Corporation will control its existing T.V. and Radio Transmissions and programmes.  2. Existing private Radio Stations will continue to operate according to their existing licences.  3. Broadcasting Coverage Regions will be determined by the N.Z. Broadcasting Authority as a pre-requisite of the setting up of elected Broadcasting Trusts to control and administer all broadcasting outside the licences approved for N.Z.B.C. (except for 2 above).  4. Additional T.V. licences will be issued to the Regional Broadcasting Trusts to be established in a manner similar to Licensing Trusts.  5. A N.Z. Broadcasting Trust will co-ordinate trust programmes and will comprise representatives from every Regional Trust.  6. Colour TV. The Second Channel will be in colour and the N.Z.B.C. will be free to change the present channel to full or partial colour transmission.  7. Educational Television. The State Corporation and N.Z. broadcasting Trust will collaborate with the Education Department on the development of educational television programmes.  8. Broadcasting Licensing Authority. The composition of the N.Z. Broadcasting Authority will be altered to include as Chairman, a Supreme Court Judge and one representative each from the N.Z.B.C, the N.Z. Broadcasting Trust and one from the Independent Radio Stations.  9. The N.Z. Broadcasting Authority will be responsible for:  (a) Allocation of radio and television frequencies in accordance with international conventions and with regard to future developments.  (b) The maximum utilisation of transmitting equipment, including leasing and sharing programme and transmitting facilities.  (c) Engineering investigation and allocation of F.M. frequencies to provide proper nation-wide coverage without cross modulation on a properly engineered system.  (d) The determination of the apportionment of all licence fees among the various broadcasting organisations represented thereon.  (e) Collaboration with existing licence holders in any proposed extensions of the Broadcasting System and will arbitrate between the parties to any dispute.  10. Licence Fees. Those in receipt of age or 100 per cent disability pensions will be exempted from the purchase of a television receiving licence.  11. External Broadcasts. Radio N.Z. will be increased in power to permit the presentation of N.Z. to all countries bordering the Pacific Basin; and the adequacy of this single service will be examined in the light of N.Z.'s developing interests in the U.S.A. and in South East Asia.  12. Right of Appeal. Any Society, person or persons alleging biased or unfair treatment in the allocation of radio or television time will have a right of appeal to the Administrative Division of the Supreme Court.  EDUCATION. Education should be one of the most vital, most expensive and most extensive concerns of Government. It is of supreme importance to the whole well-being of every New Zealander. Therefore, a Social Credit Government will aim at all times for only that which is excellent. We will foster an attitude of bold progressiveness, experimentation with and diversification of curricula and the decentralization of administration to involve more people directly concerned with education. We will promote a system which is national in concept rather than state. Social Credit policy is based on a firm philosophy: not the socialist concept of state or the capitalist abstraction "business" but an education based on developing. The individual student's creativeness and uniqueness. We will educate for the all-round development of the person and not for the production of an economic machine. Our policy is designed to develop the wholesome family unit, a continuing education from infancy to old age, an education for living and the future as well as essential skills. We believe that education should concern itself with the growing demand for social skills and better inter-personal relationships; and with teaching pupils how to learn. Social Credit holds education as next in importance to monetary reform. We shall substantially increase the proportion of national resources allocated to education. Top priority will be given to upgrading State schools to a standard of excellence. But no Government can do this effectively unless it reforms its fiscal and monetary policies. The massive increasing of taxation or raising of internal loans are no answer for both will only increase costs and prices. Social Credit will (a) accord education a higher priority in budget expenditure (b) stabilize costs in the community and halt erosion of grants (c) reduce debt servicing (d) increase the money supply in proper balance with production, and (e) use Reserve Bank credit where appropriate, as a third source of government revenue.  1. Teachers.  (a) Salaries. We shall negotiate immediately with bodies representative of the profession salary scales acceptable to the profession, the community and the Government, in tune with an order of priorities in education itself, but always mindful of the place that education holds in the Social Credit concept of the priorities of government.  (b) Ancillary Staffing  (i) Clerical assistance will be extended to all schools and by an increase in hours.  (ii) Teacher aides will be provided on an extended priority basis.  (iii) Library assistants will be provided on an extended priority basis.  (c) Staffing and Smaller Classes. Our immediate target in relation to class sizes is no more than 20 pupils in sixth forms and 30 in lower forms. We are opposed to the unethical practice of recruiting teachers from other countries.  (d) Specialist Services. We shall give urgency to the adequate extension of the following specialist services:  (i) The extension on a national basis of guidance counselling services.  (ii) The extension of facilities in speech therapy.  (iii) The extension of psychological services.  (iv) The extension of vocational guidance services, especially in rural areas.  (e) Book Allowances. We shall issue annually to each primary and secondary teacher employed by the Department and to those teachers employed by the independent schools a book voucher to the value of $40 to be spent on books pertaining to the teacher's subjects.  (f) Loans for Overseas Travel. We shall make available, under certain conditions, suspensory loans to teachers for the purpose of travel, exchange or study overseas.  (g) Sabbatical Leave. We shall in addition to (f) above, introduce a system of sabbatical leave whereby both teachers with long service records and others assessed as very likely to benefit will be granted the right to leave of absence and this without loss of privilege. Similar schemes will also be worked out for members of Teachers' Training College lecturing staffs, and for senior as well as for less senior officers of the Department who would be likely to benefit.  2. Teachers' Status. A Social Credit Government will make possible the attempts of the teaching profession to achieve true professional status by granting it the right, by register, to determine who shall be eligible to enter and by a code of ethics, to decide who shall be deregistered provided that a right of appeal shall be established.  2. Bonding. Bonding of Student Teachers will be discontinued.  3. Regional Teaching Centres. Social Credit will set up regional teaching centres which will enable the bringing together of teachers and staff of other educational agencies to work together on the research and development of curricula and the distribution of information and materials. Such centres would also assist with in-service training for teachers.  4. Schools, Equipment, Amenities.  (a) Summer Schools. We shall introduce on an experimental basis Summer Schools for the general public, thus making fuller use of our colleges, many of which have splendid grounds, swimming and recreational facilities, halls, equipment, books, libraries and accommodation.  (b) Television, Radio and National Film Unit Usage. We are anxious to see immediate use made of television and a greater use of radio as a means of both classroom instruction and adult education. Towards this end we shall co-opt the skills of those in the National Film Unit and engaged in television and radio production to produce educational films and programmes on health, traffic, safety, civics, water safety, world affairs, New Zealand geography etc. for use in our schools and for adult education programmes.  (c) Regional Videotape, and Audio-Visual Aid Libraries. Regional videotape and audio-visual aid libraries will be established.  (d) N.Z.B.C. Material. N.Z.B.C. material, such as videotapes, will be made available through the National Film library.  (e) Assembly Halls and Gymnasia. We are well aware of the need for assembly halls and gynmnasia at a number of our larger schools and colleges, particularly in rural areas where we envisage such halls and their adjacent schools as becoming centres of community activity to a far greater degree than at present. In the case of independent schools we shall provide loans at administrative cost to enable them to build such halls. Care will be taken in the design of these halls to ensure that they are suitable for speech, drama and related work.  (f) Textbooks. We shall establish a Textbook Purchasing Section of the Department which will handle on behalf of the schools the direct bulk-buying of textbooks.  (g) Teaching Aids. We are of the opinion that this country lags in the provision of many types of teaching aids when those available are compared with aids being used in some overseas countries. We shall negotiate Government bulk-purchase of these where possible; where it is economic to do so we shall contract with local manufacturers to produce them or, alternatively, the Department, itself will produce them through an Aids Production and Research Section.  6. Examinations.  (a) Internal Assessment. A Social Credit Government will support the efforts of educationalists in steps taken towards a greater use of internal assessment.  (h) School Certificate and Certificate of Attainment. We are concerned about the limitations of the present School Certificate examination and the intense but narrow field of preparation it demands of candidates. Far too much of the education given our young people is narrow and aims at specialisation too soon. We shall institute a syllabus that fits a person out for life and living as well as for earning a living, one that offers some attainable target for every student. Moreover, we shall issue to each student at the conclusion of his formal education a Certificate of Attainment. This Certificate will be a concise record of the particular subjects taken by the student, the stage to which he took them, and the standard of excellence attained in each subject. The School Certificate examination could then be abolished.  (c) University Entrance. To match the raising of standards that, will result from our University policy, we shall phase in a new system of entrance to university based on the spending of two years above the fifth form.  (d) Tertiary Institutions. Will set their own examinations, and/or entrance standards which will measure general intelligence and aptitude rather than success in any particular course of academic Study. Thus schools can get on with the job of education for living rather than preparing for admission to university.  (e) Examinations Board. We shall bring all external examinations under the control of one representative Examinations Board.  (f) School Leaving Age. We favour the eventual and progressive raising of the school leaving age as the teacher/pupil ratio position is corrected.  7. Curricula.  (a) We support the principle of diversification and experimentation in curricula at both regional and local levels. Our aim will be a good general education rather than early specialization.  (b) A Social Credit Government will introduce a planned course of instruction in Human Ecology and Environmental Studies, in primary and secondary schools.  8. Administration.  (a) Under-Secretaries to the Minister of Education. A Social Credit Government will appoint three Under-Secretaries to the Minister of Education to assist with three very important and distinct aspects of the growing field of education, namely:  (i) Special Educational Needs, ii) University Education, and iii) Vocational Training. The first of these will have the task and duty of providing the means whereby all pupils in our schools coming within the category of those having Special Educational Needs will be able to attain the same levels of achievement as other children. The second will have the distinct task of aiding our Universities in their efforts to perfect their standards of excellence in both the scientific and academic fields so that the avid demands of the age of automation will at all times be met. The third will be involved in promoting vocational training and the affairs of Technical Institutes, a work of growing importance to the economy of this country.  b) Decentralization of Administration. A Social Credit Government will take immediate steps to decentralize administration within the Education Department. Education Boards will be given the necessary authority to administer funds, following initial Governmental allocation  (c) School Committees and Parent-Teacher Associations. We do not envisage any change to the present method of appointment of School Committees, nor do we think in terms of combining the functions of a School Committee with those of a Parent-Teacher Association. We see them as performing two equally necessary but distinct functions. We shall seek to draw a clear line between the functions of the two and to devise a scheme acceptable to both whereby each is represented on the other. We strongly support the idea of Parent-Teacher Associations and will encourage their establishment wherever this is possible. We particularly favour the concept of a classroom Parent-Teacher relationship.  (d) Social Credit will foster greater co-operation between students and teachers in the determination of the curriculum, discipline and general administration of schools.  9. The Independent Schools.  (a) Education Benefit. In recognition of the part played in the national education system and the way that private schools are contributing not only service but a comparative value against the state system, a Social Credit Government will grant to the independent schools an Education Benefit substantially equal to the cost in state schools of teaching the secular subjects. The amount decided on will be paid to the school at which the child is enrolled as a credit on behalf of the parent or guardian.  (b) Lay Teachers. All positions for lay teachers in the independent schools will be advertised in the Education Gazette as they become available.  (c) Superannuation and Grading. Superannuation and grading rights of teachers in the service of the independent schools will be protected.  (d) Teacher Appointment. There will be liaison between the Education Authorities and the relevant independent school Authority in the appointment of suitable teachers.  (e) Boards of Governors and School Committees. A Social Credit Government will require the establishment of a Board of Governors for each independent secondary school, and School Committees for the independent primary schools.  (f) Free Flow and Promotion of Teachers. We would require reasonable facility to permit the free reciprocal flow of teachers between the independent schools and the state schools. This is essential in order to provide for adequate promotion for any lay teacher, and it would widen the appreciation by one system of the other.  (g) Rate of Increase of Staff. Simultaneously with the giving of the Education Benefit, a Social Credit Government will regulate the rate of increase of staff in the independent schools.  (h) Accounting Machinery. We shall require independent schools to adopt standardized accounting methods in order to ensure the correct allocation of all public moneys paid to these schools.  (i) Rate of Adjustment. The amount of the Education Benefit will be subject to adjustment in relation to a general rise in the cost of state education.  10. Maori Education.  (a) Under-Secretary. The Under-Secretary for Special Educational Needs will deal with all aspects of Maori education.  (b) Teachers' Training College Lectureships. We shall invite applications from the ranks of qualified Maori teachers to fill lectureships at all Teachers' Training colleges wherein their special responsibility will be to provide all teacher trainees with a composite course dealing with Maori history, language, lore and customs, and the problems confronting the modern urban Maori, so that an enlightened teaching force can bring about through the schools the correct community awareness, attitudes and solutions to these problems within a pluralistic society such as our own.  (c) Special Holiday Reading courses. A Social Credit Government will make it possible, as an interim measure, and where a density of Maori or culturally deprived children are located, to have the schools in such areas opened during school holiday periods in order to engage these children in additional reading activities. Such a scheme will be available for three-year-olds and upwards.  11. University Education. We believe that a university should fulfil two major roles. The first is to provide facilities for specialized education which will equip students to enter the community highly trained in particular subjects of their choice. In the fields of engineering, architecture, and the sciences, in particular, there is a strong demand for such specialization. The second purpose is to provide an opportunity for learning for its own sake, in order to establish an atmosphere and provide conditions congenial for research and the pursuit of knowledge. As the machine takes over the production requirements of society, and technicians are required to service the machines, so will there be a vital need for people of wisdom and wide learning to give leadership in thought, so that people feel a sense of purpose in living, rather than the present burden of having to earn a living to justify their existence. A Social Credit Government will, therefore:  (a) Appoint to the Minister of Education an Under Secretary for University Education.  (b) Raise academic staff salaries substantially, in themselves and within the income structure of the community.  (c) Give a high priority to the provision of additional equipment and better conditions in all departments whem this is an economic proposition.  (d) Make available to students and to each student teacher gaining the new University Entrance qualification (see examinations, (c), on commencement of the prescribed full time and part time courses, annually renewable bursaries differential between student groups according to circumstances. All education will be provided as of right provided that satisfactory progress is made by the student.  (e) Students, having the prescribed entrance qualifications and wishing to pay their own way through university must take prescribed minimum combinations of units, and make progress in their studies, and complete these within the same time limits required of assisted students, and conduct themselves to the satisfaction of the council.  (f) A degree course in environmental studies and human ecology will be established in N.Z. universities.  12. Vocational Training, Technical Institutes, Polytechnies. A Social Credit Government will aim at expanding the work of, and elevating the status of, Vocational Training within the framework of education. We see the place of Vocational Training as one of growing and vital importance, fulfilling an educational need in this increasingly technological age for many of our people not requiring the fullness of a University education. Towards this end, therefore, we shall:  (a) Appoint to the Minister of Education an Under Secretary responsible for Vocational Training.  (b) Grant greater freedom to the locally elected Boards of each institute:  (i) To experiment, within accepted financial limits, with alternative ways of carrying out particular program and  (ii) To expand full-time courses where these are felt necessary after approaches have been made to local industries to ascertain their precise needs.  (c) Extend the work of Technical Institutes up to the equivalent of Stage 1 level at University, and thus enable them to cope with many of the practical needs of industry.  (d) Establish area Technical Institutes centred on indigenous regional industry, e.g. at Rotorua, centred on the timber industry.  (Note: We recommend that the Auckland Technical Institute should centre its activities on production engineering, food and catering and hotel management. Courses of a national nature which, because of the limited number of students involved, would not be justified at more than one Technical Institute will be developed in the centres of greatest population density.)  (e) A Free-of-Interest, Suspensory Loan will be made available to each full-time student gaining entry to a Technical Institute, and will be made payable on a fortnightly basis, and conditional upon attendance, progress and satisfactory conduct to the particular Institute Board. The criteria for awarding these loans, etc., will, with variation where necessary, follow the criteria stated in relation to University Student Loans. The residency requirement in this case will be of a three-year duration.  13. Slow Learners. We recognize that, while the problem of the slow learner exists, the shortest route to its alleviation is an adequate flow of well-trained teachers into our schools. We shall, therefore:  (a) Give a high priority to the recommendation concerning Special Classes of the 1962 Royal Commission of a teacher/pupil ratio of 1 to 18.  (b) Make available special grants of money to be spent on this problem.  (c) Establish special salary scales for teachers engaged in this work.  (d) Initiate the introduction of exploratory pre-vocational and work-experience programmes as an integral part of courses for slow learners.  (e) Include in all teachers' training programmes a course whereby trainees will be made aware of the existence of slow learners and their particular problems.  14. Compulsory Subjects. Our aim will be to ensure that, by the time each pupil has completed his Fifth Form year, he has had a sound general education, the basis of which will be English. Mathematics, Science and Modern Living. Modern Living will include First Aid, Civics and Domestic Science and it will follow very closely the draft scheme outlined in the National Youth Council's Report on Citizenship Training, 1967.  15. Effective Communication. We agree that the whole question of communication (including speech work in all its aspects) is a vital one to the concept of excellence in education and the proper functioning of democracy. It must be thoroughly integrated with all other aspects of teacher training. We shall call a top-level Conference of educators and world authorities on this matter to draw up a programme for early implementation.  16. Rural Education. The whole question of rural education has been reviewed within recent years both by the Minister, and in a special and searching report entitled Country Education, prepared by the P.P.T.A.  (a) Country Service Allowance. A Social Credit Government will introduce the P.P.T.A.'s (A), (B), (C) Scale covering degrees of remoteness as the basis for payment of a country service allowance. A) More than 80 miles from one of the four main centres.  (B) More than 40 miles from a town of over 7000.  (C) More than 15 miles from a town of over 3000.  (b) Housing for Teachers. A Social Credit Government will provide additional rental houses for married teachers serving rural areas. Rentals will be reasonable and will be reduced on the basis of an (A), (B), (C) scale.  (c) Form I to VII Schools. A Social Credit Government will progressively replace the District High School system with a Form I to VII system in country areas.  (d) Additional Boarding Allowances. In all cases where Boarding Bursaries do not at present apply, we shall pay an accommodation allowance of $8 a week for outback secondary school children who attend a boarding school or board privately.  17. Commission Management of Education. With the aim of co-ordinating to a greater extent than at present the activities of all sections and groups, both professional and administrative, concerned with the furtherance of education, we shall explore the possible benefits of reconstituting the Department of Education into an Education Commission.  18. Financial hardship. In cases where undue financial hardship would be experienced by families wishing to keep a promising student at school during either the Sixth or Seventh Form years, or both, we shall make provision for supplementary payments to the Family Benefit.  19. Pre-school Movement. We recognise as an integral part of a national system of education, the vital part played by the pre-school movement, and a Social Credit Government will enter into negotiations with the executive representatives of this movement to assess and then to provide, its just educational needs.  REFORM OF THE PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM. Social Credit chose its title as a Political League very carefully for we are determined to get away from the faults and weaknesses of the Party System. Social Credit members will be united in our Financial Polly to reform the faulty economy but on matters of conscience our philosophy demands that they have a free vote in parliament to exercise the wishes of their constituents. These matters would include decisions relating to abortion morals, the commitment of combat troops overseas, etc. Social Credit abhors the increasing gap between true democracy and the present parliamentary system and believe the following steps will overcome anomalies in the present democratic structure.  1. Electoral Reform. Under a Social Credit government parliamentary elections will be conducted under the proportional representation system incorporating the single transferable vote in multi-candidate constituencies. This is known as PR-STV.  2. Private and Public Interests. All Members of Parliament will be required to make a complete disclosure of their financial affairs to the Auditor General who will report thereon as he thinks necessary to a Select Committee of the House. Ministers will not be permitted to deal in land or engage in financial or business activities likely to lead to a conflict between their private affairs and the public interest and may be required to convert certain of their assets into blind trusts where only the trustees know the nature of the trust investments.  3. Speaker of the House. A member of the High Judiciary be chosen by and seconded to Parliament to assume the duties of Speaker of the House of Representatives.  4. Parliamentary Term. Social Credit will maintain the three year life of Parliament.  5. Voting Age. The voting age will be reduced from twenty to eighteen years.  6. Organisations of Electors. All Members of Parliament will be encouraged to foster the formation of non-party organisations of electors to act as liaison committees, and to consult with them in matters concerning their respective electorates. Members will be required to report to their electorates after each session of Parliament.  7. Secretarial Aid. Each member of Parliament will be provided with an aid for secretarial duties.  8. Select Committees. A greater emphasis will be placed on public hearings of Parliamentary Select Committees.  9. Ballot Papers. Standardised ballot papers will be introduced to cover both Parliamentary and Local Body Elections.  10. Parliamentary Supervision of Delegated Legislation.  (a) We shall introduce a provision whereby all statutory instruments must be laid before Parliament and will be subject to a resolution affirming the instrument.  (b) A Select Committee of the House will be set up to scrutinize and report on statutory instruments laid before Parliament.  (c) We shall amend the Regulations Act 1936 to ensure that all delegated and sub-delegated legislation is published before it conies into effect. Non-publication at the time of an alleged offence will be a complete defence to any charge involving breach of a regulation.  11. Referenda. Where a local body has held a referendum on any issue, the result will be binding until varied by a further referendum. Legislation will be passed to compel local authorities to abide by the results of referenda.  LAW REFORM. In any discussion of administrative procedure it is obviously essential to bear in mind that the proper function of a government is to govern in the interests of the community as a whole and this will necessarily frustrate sectional and private aims and interests from time to time. The emphasis in this report on the rights of the citizen in his encounters with administrative authority sterns not from any desire to deprecate the legitimate functions of government but rather because the scales appear at times to be unduly weighted against the citizen. It. is difficult to believe that fair administration is attainable only al the price of weak or inefficient government. In the words of the Franks Committee: Administration must not only be efficient in the sense that the objectives of policy are securely attained without delay. It must also satisfy the general body of citizens that it is proceeding with reasonable regard to the balance between the public interest which it promotes and the private interests which it disturbs. G. S. Orr, Repori on Administrative Justice in New Zealand. The purpose of this policy is to put forward means by which this balance may better be maintained.  1. Administration Division of The Supreme Court. We strongly support the establishment of an Administrative Division of the Supreme Court to replace appeal authorities, and right of appeal will be granted from all administrative tribunals to this division.  2. Practice and Procedure of Administrative Tribunals. A general code will be introduced to regulate the practice and procedure of administrative tribunals. Certain basic procedures to ensure a fair hearing should be followed by all tribunals unless for good cause expressly exempted. These include such matters as notice of the time, place and issues; evidence; public hearings; legal representation; privilege; and a requirement that findings and reasons be supplied either as of right or on timely request. Tribunals will remain free to prescribe detailed rules.  3. Right to a Hearing. We shall ensure that any person whose rights, property or livelihood are adversely affected by administrative action or the exercise of statutory powers is first entitled to a hearing. There will he a right of appeal to the Administrative Division of the Supreme Court as to the right to a herring and the adequacy of any hearing afforded. In addition, a provision requiring a hearing before the grant, revocation, suspension or modification of any licence will be enacted.  4. Judicial Review of Administrative Decisions. A simple uniform method of review will be introduced to replace the prerogative writs and actions for injunctions and declarations, and the grounds for review will be codified and extended to include all errors of law. The Administrative division of the Supreme Court will hear all applications for review of administrative decisions subject to a right of appeal to the Court of Appeal.  5. Appeals Against Administrative Decisions. We shall establish a right of appeal to the Administrative division of the Supreme Court in the areas of the greatest friction between the public, Government Departments and local bodies, to be determined on the recommendation of the Ombudsman.  6. The Ombudsman. The Ombudsman will be appointed as a member of the Administrative Division of the Supreme Court and the conditions of his appointment as Ombudsman will be equated with those of a Judge of the Supreme Court. It is not envisaged that the Ombudsman would sit on the general run of cases coming before this Division, but that his services would be called upon at the discretion of the Chief Justice to sit on those cases where the experience accumulated in his capacity as Parliamentary Commissioner would be of particular value and assistance to the Court. The jurisdiction of the Ombudsman will be extended to cover all local bodies, public corporations such as the National Airways Corporation and the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation, the Universities and a far wider range of matters arising within the armed forces.  7. Anti-bugging. The right of the individual will be protected by the institution of further anti-bugging laws.  8. Police Evidence. In order that, both the individual and the police be protected, confessions of accused persons in criminal cases shall not be put in evidence unless taken in the presence of the accused's solicitor, a Justice of the Peace, a welfare officer or other person who will see fair play.  9. Misuse of Drugs. A clear distinction will be made in law between soft and hard drugs, the penalties for the selling and use of the latter being substantially increased, particularly in the case of sale to minors.  10. Homosexual Behaviour. The existing law relating to homosexual behaviour between consenting adults in private will be repealed. The laws providing penalties for the sexual corruption of minors will be retained.  HEALTH. In the formulation of this section of Policy, our definition of the term health is in accordance with that laid down by the World Health Organization which states, Health is a state of physical, mental and social wellbeing and not just the absence of disease. To this end, we believe in the ultimate establishment of the best possible health service attainable, one which is all-embracing and which will provide for the training of sufficient personnel in all branches of healing. It is a mistake to look upon the medical service as something fixed and immutable. It needs freedom to grow, and if it is to grow and to work out its own destiny in research and its application to the improvement of human well-being, then it must become progressively freer from the restrictions of state control.  1. General  (a) We shall establish an independent Advisory body to review the operational efficiency of the various aspects of the health services. At least 50 per cent of the members of the body will be medical men who are actively engaged in the profession, and its findings will be published, including recommendations for further developments.  (b) We shall create an independent Medical Research Council composed of scientists and provide it with sufficient funds to allow unorthodox methods of treatment to be accorded research facilities.  (c) We shall institute a Government-sponsored programme to carry a health education campaign to the people and to the schools. This would include special reference to the harmful effects of cigarette smoking.  (d) We do not believe in compulsory medication except during an emergency situation, on the grounds that this is contrary to the fundamental principles of democracy.  2. General and Maternity Hospitals.  (a) We undertake to provide new buildings and equipment as and when required in order to meet the full needs of our rapidly expanding population.  (b) The construction of new buildings will be in permanent materials and the cost will be met from interest-free money.  (c) In future building programmes, more attention will be paid to full out-patient facilities, with adequate consulting and operating rooms and a certain number of day recovery beds. If these departments were properly planned, a considerable saving of hospital beds would result.  (d) In order to reduce the amount of paper work and bureaucracy in the running of hospitals, we shall encourage a maximum delegation of real responsibility to competent hospital Boards, and we shall do anything possible to speed up central decisions where these are necessary.  (e) We shall encourage full-time hospital officers to avail themselves of overseas refresher courses.  (f) We shall review salaries of full-time hospital officers in the light of salaries earned by specialists and general practitioners not engaged in hospital work. This review will include other hospital officers and the nursing profession, and not only those officers with medical degrees. These reviews will be made in order to retain the services of these highly qualified officers in the hospital service, and it is intended to bring salaries into line with those obtaining in industry and civilian life.  (g) We believe that a specialist benefit should be introduced in line with the proposals submitted by the Central Specialists Committee of the B.M.A.  (h) With the restoration of greater autonomy to Hospital Boards we would recommend that Medical Advisory Committees be attached to all Hospital Boards. These Committees will consist of hospital doctors and other local doctors whose patients are cared for in these hospitals.  3. Private Hospitals  (a) We shall provide money at low rates of interest to private and maternity hospitals for renovations, improvements or new buildings.  (b) We shall increase the subsidies paid to private hospitals.  4. General Practitioners  (a) We shall review the social security charges mileage allowances and maternity payments after consultation with a Committee set up by the practitioners for the purpose.  (b) This Committee will also be asked to submit recommendations for a possible increase in the G.M.S. benefit. It is realized that the retention of a private fee to doctors is necessary to prevent abuses by both doctors and patients, but in order that increasing charges do not cause hardship, a review of the G.M.S. is necessary.  (c) We shall review the scale of consultation and anaesthetic charges for maternity and private practice.  (d) We believe that Hospital Boards should be encouraged to allow local practitioners who wish to look after their own patients to do so. Suitable safeguards must be provided and the local practitioners would be helped by the local specialists.  5. Ancillary Medical Services. In an age of increasing complexity, the technical knowledge of those engaged in ancillary services must be improved. Towards this end, and so that the right calibre of individual will be attracted to these most necessary branches of medicine, diploma or degree courses al University level will be introduced. Technicians at present engaged in these ancillary services have little or no professional standing, but with the introduction of diploma courses, etc., they would acquire professional status and be required to accept the true responsibilities of professionalism. Their monetary reward would be comparable with that of other professional groups in society. The details of how much increase in technical learning, and along which direction it should follow, would need to be discussed and planned in conjunction with other branches of medicine.  6. Voluntary Organisations (See also policy on Social Security and Welfare.). Social Credit recognizes the value of voluntary organizations such as the Plunket Society, the Crippled Childrens' Society, Alcoholics Associations, Health Camps and the like, and will therefore ensure that sufficient finance is made available for them to function efficiently. Consultation with these organizations can prove most valuable as liaison between patients and the profession.  7. Chiropractors. All systems of healing, such as chiropractic, will be investigated by the Medical Research Council. We believe that any form of successful treatment, regardless of its source, should be used for the benefit of the sick.  8. Mental Health. Our psychiatric services are insufficient in quantity, poor in quality, and out of date. The medical profession is united in its understanding of the defects of the present system, and Social Credit submits the following propositions which we believe will rectify the present chaotic situation.  (a) We shall set up an independent Committee to investigate the need for legal reform relating to mental health. This reform will be divided into five main categories:  (i) Certification procedure.  (ii) Patients' property rights and civil rights.  (iii) Review of patients' conditions from time to time.  (iv) Administration of Mental Hospitals.  (v) Reform of the Mental Health Act 1969.  (b) We shall set up two professional psychiatric posts in New Zealand. One will be concerned with undergraduate training at the Otago University Medical School. and the other will be for the purpose of providing adequate training for qualified practitioners wishing to specialize in psychiatry. It is reasonable to suggest that the Professor responsible for graduate training should be in one of the centres where a Mental Hospital exists. A close liaison between general hospitals could then devellop.  (c) We shall provide training under the Professional Board for psychiatric workers, teachers and speech and occupational therapists. Until such a scheme can be implemented, we shall make every effort to find extra psychiatrists, psychologists and psychiatric social workers from other countries.  (d) There should be at least 25 beds for psychiatric patients in general hospitals per 100000 of the regional population, served with adequately staffed outpatients' departments.  (e) We would foster the establishment of Mental Health Associations to assist in the after-care and rehabilitation of mental hospital patients.  (f) We believe that present official policy has a misguided emphasis on extending residential accommodation and a mistaken preference for large institutions. Both are opposed to modern opinion and to trends elsewhere. We would concentrate on small, more widely spread hospitals to deal with acute cases. In addition, we would foster the growth of a number of modest country-house type institutions to which patients may be taken during the day, and from which patients could go each day to suitable work. We oppose the use of the larger Mental Hospitals for purposes of geriatric care.  (g) We propose that a psychiatric specialist benefit should be introduced for patients referred by a general practitioner and a day hospital benefit for psychiatric patients attending private day treatment.  (h) We shall increase the allowance from the Social Security Fund to long-term patients.  (i) The psychiatric staff corning under the control of the hospital boards will retain the rate of remuneration and other privileges enjoyed under the Health Department.  9. Mental Deficiency Services. A good deal of this section would be integrated with the previous section.  (a) We believe that should be something alteration to the nomenclature of the mental deficiency diseases, and that certain types should be made notifiable. The procedure for admission and subsequent reassessment should be drastically revised and a disabled persons register should be established.  (b) We believe there should be an expansion of extramural Service with the aim of rehabilitating and supporting mental defectives in ordinary society. Cases requiring residential care would receive it in neighbouring hostels or large houses converted for the purpose.  (c) To encourage and facilitate extramural care in the interests of the patient, and to discourage too early admission to institutions particularly for children, we will:  (i) Increase the child allowance to parents of mentally defective children and physically handicapped children.  (ii) Allocate realistic levels of payment, to foster parents.  (iii) Establish a register of suitable foster homes.  (d) We will ensure that the Community service would be administered with considerable local autonomy and with the participation of voluntary bodies, parents, medical and other professional workers, as well as representatives of hospitals and educational boards.  (e) We believe that the intellectually Handicapped Children's Society should be entitled to 100 per cent subsidy in the establishment and running of training facilities for intellectually handicapped children, provided there are at least six children in a community requiring such assistance.  (f) Residential institutions would either supply special education, remedial specialists, vocational training, sheltered workshops or have access to them in the extramural Services in the neighbourhood. Their functioning would be integrated with the latter, especially through the agency of the psychiatric workers.  10. Additive Drugs.  (a) The Health Department will be the sole importer of addictive drugs, and they will be held under bond at public hospitals.  (b) The Public Education Programme on to dangers and misuse of all drugs will be extended.  (c) Free clinics for the confidential, medical and psychological treatment of addicts will be established.  11. Cancer and Cardiac Research. That since highly frequent causes of death in New Zealand are cancer and heart disease, and the extent of research into these areas can no longer be left largely to fortuitous private charity, a Social Credit Government will establish immediately a Cancer Research Centre and a Cardiac Research Centre, independent of Government, control so as to be both university and hospital based.  12. Sociological Research. A Social Credit Government will establish by direct and annual grants a university based Sociological Research Centre. It will be appropriately and adequately staffed by psychologists, sociologists and medical specialists, on both a permanent and consultative basis. The Sociological Centre will conduct research into the serious social problems of:  (a) Mental Health.  (b) Alcoholism.  (c) Drug addiction.  (d) Contraception.  (e) Illegitimacy and abortion.  (f) Homosexuality and lesbianism.  (g) Crime and violence.  The Sociological Centre will also recommend appropriate legislative reform and other remedies.  13. Sexual Disorders. Free clinics will be established for the confidential medical and psychological treatment of sexual disorders.  OVERSEAS TRADE. The present protectionist approach by individual countries, whether by means of economic sanctions or the quota system, engenders friction and jealousy between nations which often ends in open conflict. These policies are largely the result of inadequate internal monetary Systems. As a means of establishing secure markets over the widest possible area, and to show by example a method of dealing with the problems of world trade, a Social Credit Government will implement the following policy.  Reciprocal and Bilateral Trade. An application will be immediately lodged with G.A.T.T. for a waiver of the Agreement, to permit reciprocal and bilateral trading with countries other than our traditional markets, and reduce tariffs gradually, thus reducing internal costs, making all exports more competitive on overseas markets.  Export Credits. Art Export Credit Account will be established at the Reserve Bank for those countries willing to reciprocate, so that trading may proceed unhampered by balance of payments problems. Such credits will be at a nominal rate only, and, where justified (such as in the case of underdeveloped countries), will be interest-free. This latter aspect would ensure that trade policies based on the principle of economic justice rather than charitable aid are pursued.  Board of Trade. A Board of Trade will be set tip, with the responsibility of carrying out a long-term policy of import allocation related to export earnings. The quantum of imports must be kept in annual balance with our export earnings, after providing for our external debt servicing. Exceptions may be necessary from time to time to ensure that essential capital equipment and raw materials are imported for the development and benefit of de country as a whole. (See also policy on Secondary Industries.) Sufficient exchange will be reserved for this purpose.  Trade Commissioners. The time is overdue for the appointment of well-qualified Trade Commissioners to ensure adequate overseas promotion of New Zealand’s industry, both primary and secondary. Towards this end a Social Credit Government will establish consular offices and trading posts wherever practicable with the object of further reciprocal and bilateral trade. To ensure that trade promotion is prosecuted with the utmost vigour, Trade Commissioners will be appointed from the commercial field for contractual periods on terms attractive to well-qualified men. Such appointments will be outside the jurisdiction of the State Service Commission.  Export Development. There is no doubt that we must continue to diversify our products, in both primary and secondary industries, and see that our skills and resources are fully utilized. All that is basically necessary to ensure that our exporting industries make unimpeded progress is to provide sufficient incentive by way of taxation relief. This can best be achieved by increased taxation exemptions for travelling and advertising. Financial assistance will be given to those industries developing new products and to new industries considered worthy of promotion by the Trade Commissioners for particular markets. (See also proposals for a National Investment Corporation under policy on Finance)  Foreign Investment. A Social Credit Government will introduce adequate measures to prevent foreign investors from obtaining a dominant interest in New Zealand property or industry.  Sales Promotion. A Social Credit Government will use all possible means to promote sales of New Zealand products to potential markets and employ qualified market research personnel from private enterprise.  AGRICULTURAL POLICY. A Social Credit Government will direct its farming policy towards security of tenure, promoting further development and settlement, assisting with the control of erosion, and ensuring the necessary incentives for further production by:  (a) Stabilising costs.  (b) Reducing taxation.  (c) Ensuring finance at reasonable rates of interest.  (d) Providing adequate services for the rural community.  Social Credit's Primary Production policy recognises that farming is a businesses as well as a way of life and that the business of a farmer is to produce to the limit of which his farm is capable, compatible with good farming, and having done so, he has the right to expect that the prices he receives for his products bear a similar relationship to prices of those things he has to buy for which his product is traded. Social Credit would assure the farmer of his cost of production, including a reasonable profit, and thus high production and real efficiency would go hand in hand with a just reward for his efforts, while the farmer's standard of living would be determined only by his efficiency as a farmer. Social Credit recognises that each country should specialise in the commodity in which it has a comparative advantage (greatest relative efficiency) and export its surplus of the product for imports from abroad with trading preference to countries operating the same principle.  1. Produce Prices. Social Credit will pay the farmers for the exchange earned by primary products at its internal cost expressed in N.Z. dollars. The Dairy Industry Act and the Reserve Bank Act will be amended to provide for the purchase of the exchange earned at a variable premium. A Court of Price Review will be set up as a judicial body. This will decide on the variable premium on the exchange earned by the industry. The basic price for primary produce will be arrived at according to the following criteria, aiming to:  1. Provide the average efficient farmer with a good standard of living.  2. Enable farmers to pay competitive rates of pay.  3. Allow them reasonable interest on capital invested in their farms and stock.  4. Enable them to meet all costs, including any tariffs.  5. Allow them a remuneration commensurate with the services they render and with that obtained by other members of the community who render equal service.  6. Preserve the capital invested in the land.  7. Stimulate the full use of the land.  8. Maintain the stability and efficiency of the industry in the national interest.  2. Marketing of Our Major Primary Exports. New Zealand's prosperity depends to a large extent on the successful marketing of our surplus primary produce. The Dairy Board and the Apple and Pear Board are well organised for this purpose. Both operate on a co-operate basis and are responsible for the marketing of their own produce. The same policy would be offered to other primary producing industries. Social Credit will give every assistance to the Wool Industry by setting up the Wool Marketing Corporation so that it can do a similar job for the Wool Grower that the Dairy Board does for the dairyman. Social Credit will safeguard growth of producer co-operatives in all primary industries, to work in co-operation with their marketing authorities.  3. Finance. Finance through all Government agencies, for example, the State Advances Corporation for purchase and development and the Lands and Survey Department for marginal lands and civilian settlement will be at no more than 3 per cent interest.  4. Producer Pool Accounts. Funds in Producer Pool Accounts will become trust funds, administered by the industry.  5. Co-operatives. The extension of co-operatives will be encouraged, and all profits nude by them will be exempt from company taxation. Profits distributed to the producers, however, will be assessable income in their hands.  6. Production Incentives. Increases in production (basic production to be the average of the preceding three years) will be tax-free.  7. Land Development. All Crown land, together with Maori land, that is being developed for farming purposes will be under a Corporation to be formed from the present Land Development Branch of the Lands and Survey Department. No land suitable for development and subdivision will be declined for purchase on the pretext of lack of finance. The present policy of land development will be pursued with vigour, and farm units will be made available for settlement as soon as they are physically ready, as was the case with the settlement of ex-servicemen.  8. Land Settlement. Greater emphasis will be placed on settlement, as we believe that the mot efficient farmer is the owner-occupier. The immediate objective will be to ballot at least 100 units per annum. No restrictions will be placed on who may apply, and from these applicants will be selected those eligible for ballots, as decided by the Land Settlement Committees, with up to 100 per cent finance. Values placed on the units being offered for ballot will have due regard to the productive capacity of the unit, and will not be fixed entirely on comparative sales. In order to protect the Crown against possible speculation, settlement units offered for sale within 7 years must be re-offered to the Crown, which will pay due compensation for all improvements effected up to the time of sale.  9. Irrigation.  (a) The use of finance at administrative cost for the establishment of irrigation schemes will apply.  (b) Where irrigation can be shown to offer substantial benefits, farmers will be given the opportunity to establish such a scheme subject to at least 60 per cent of the occupiers accepting a rating charge to cover operating costs.  (c) Full engineering, agricultural and economic investigations will be undertaken before any scheme is commenced.  (d) Subject to the foregoing conditions, such schemes will be proceeded with immediately men, machines and materials are available.  (e) Loan repayments will be at the rate of 1 per cent for the first year, rising yearly by half of 1 per cent until a maximum of 5 per cent per annum is reached.  10. Farm Housing. Where a new house is built for occupation by the farmer himself and the existing house is suitable for occupation by, and is in fact used to house a farm employee, the new house will qualify for initial or special depreciation up to a maximum of $8000.  11. Capital Stock. Farmers will be given the right to choose between the present system of standard values for livestock, whereby all stock is trading stock, and a system whereby capital stock is treated as such, and only trading stock is taken into account in arriving at the taxable income. No additional tax will be incurred in making the changeover.  12. Reserve Accounts. All farmers will be given the opportunity to voluntarily establish reserve accounts to cover disaster due to natural phenomena and not otherwise insurable, similar to the Snow Loss Reserve legislation.  13. Rural Housing. We shall expedite the building of accommodation in country areas and rural towns. (See also under Housing policy)  14. Land Valuation. The present system of land valuation serves no useful purpose other than as a basis for assessing rates, and will therefore be discontinued. (See also policy on Natural resources and Land Administration.)  15. Farm Advisory Services. The Farm improvement Club concept of advisory services will be fostered and assisted.  16. Stock Disease Control. The skills of fully qualified veterinarians must at all times be utilized to the full in the sphere of disease prevention and control.  17. Farm Employees' Taxation. To encourage farm workers, the same taxation deductions as allowed to farmers will apply that is, maintenance of their own gear and animals, car depreciation, and telephone rental if not paid by the owner.  18. Death Duties. Death duties will be abolished on estates up to $40001 tax to begin at $40001 value. Farms passed on to immediate members of the family will be eligible for an additional exemption of $40000, provided legatees operate them for seven years. A further death within that period of seven years will not entail further death duties.  FISHING. The resources of the sea are of no less importance to the future well-being of this country than the resources of the land. It would be most undesirable if these resources were squandered merely because we are not in a position to utilize them to the full at present. In the past it has been thought that the oceans of the southern hemisphere were not as rich as those in the northern hemisphere, and as a result of this thinking New Zealand's rich oceans have not received the attention they deserve, and the few people harvesting the area have not received the assistance warranted by their efforts. The fact that the Japanese are endeavouring to exploit our seas is a sure indication that there is a rich harvest to be gleaned. A Social Credit Government will prosecute the following policy in order to ensure that the fishing industry obtain the recognition it rightly deserves.  1. Research. We shall ensure that the Scientific and Industrial Research Corporation (see Research policy) gives high priority to the research of our strategic fishing grounds, including shell fish.  2. National Fisheries Board. A Social Credit Government will establish a National Fisheries Board comprising men who are independent of but interested in the fishing industry, representatives of the industry, and independent scientists interested and experienced in marine life. This Board will report to the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment and advise on matters relating to the industry with a view to formulating and controlling policy. One facet of policy must be to ensure that every citizen hat as far as is practical, opportunity to purchase fresh fish.  3. Licensing. Where we are not in a position to use our fishing resources at present available, fishing will be allowed under licence to overseas concerns on payment of royalty. Such licences would be granted up to a limit of the renewable supply and no further. Licences would be promptly terminated should scientific evidence show that the waters were being over-fished.  4. Management. Scientific investigations would be put in hand towards the implementation of fish management and fish fanning.  5. Financial Assistance. Finance will be made available to assist the fishing industry to build up a fleet of vessels to fish the natural increase and to assist the industry generally, such as in the establishment of packing and processing facilities in order to export any surplus.  6. Fisheries Protection. We shall take all steps necessary to protect our fishing grounds from any possible damage or depredation.  SECONDARY INDUSTRY. The maintenance and expansion of existing industries and the setting up of new industries will receive encouragement and co-operation. The interests of the New Zealand people will always be paramount where foreign participation through overseas investment is sought, and the growing trend towards overseas control will be halted. Outgoings of New Zealand exchange as earnings by overseas investors will not exceed the savings and/or earnings of exchange effected by the operations of any industry. The establishment of new industries based on the use of our own raw materials, processing and packaging of primary products, and production of goods for export and home consumption will be actively assisted by the following means:  1. Expansion of industrial research.  2. Provision of development finance under reasonable terms.  3. Taxation incentives and realistic deprecation allowances on plant and equipment.  4. Board of Trade control of import licence allocations, free from Government interference, to ensure an adequate flow of imports of necessary raw materials, and to afford protection where required for all sections of industry.  5. Liberalizing of transport regulations to promote greater economy and efficiency.  6. An enlightened labour and employment policy which will bring about greater co-operation between wage earners and management in developing our industries to mutual and general advantage.  7. Establishing assured markets for export production by measures set out in the policy section on Overseas Trade.  FORESTRY. The guidelines to any practical and effective forest policy for New Zealand are correct land usage, management for high yields, the most modern refinements of technique, and actual and potential markets. The role of our valuable native forests of Podocarpus and Notofagus (beech) cannot be minimised without danger to our watersheds, wild life and river systems. As protective forest, our native species must be preserved and extended where possible. Regional planning techniques will reveal those areas of the country best suited to large-scale afforestation and production of merchantable lumber. Such areas would include cut-over native forest, eroded bad lands, and abandoned pastoral country. Such areas under profitable utilization would be of tremendous value to the national economy. The rate of growth of softwood conifers such as Pinus Radiata approaches the highest in the world. The yield per acre for forest products is higher than that of any agricultural or pastoral utilization. Forestry gainfully employs a larger number of personnel per acre than agriculture. A vigorous forest industry is commensurate with a high standard of living and an internally buoyant economy. In view of the almost, certain acceleration of utilization of forest products, with expanding populations and increasing pressure on arable lands throughout the world, the possibility of a world timber shortage is no longer remote. The potential market for New Zealand forest products over the next twenty years is tremendous. New Zealand could be the largest soft-wood timber producer in the southern hemisphere.  1. Timber Production.  (a) Selected areas of native forests will be managed for sustained yields of highest quality special purpose timber, and such planting will he extended in all areas subject to steep slopes or which are classified as being watersheds.  (b) Supplies of native timbers will be rationed on a fair and equitable basis for the benefit of an interested industries.  (c) The rate and the acreage of exotic plantings will be expanded to supply wood processing industries in New Zealand with raw materials and so that a large export surplus of valuable and varied forest products is built up, thus saving and earning foreign exchange simultaneously. The far north will be revitalized by planting, all available and suitable land with fast-growing exotics. The target will be to double the rate of forest establishment.  (d) Acting on the necessity to promote multiple land use a Social Credit Government will initiate a programme for a balanced agricultural system involving the strategic placement of forests or stands of trees.  2. Wood Utilisation. To be financially justified and for reduction of overall costs, forest industries should be large, completely mechanized and integrated into forest areas. The target should be the complete utilization of the log for lumber, paper pulp, wood distillation products, dyes, fuels, plastics, paints, oils, emulsions, wood proteins and sugars, alcohols etc. Such a policy would guarantee vital raw materials for our industries and save appreciable purchases of oils and fuels from abroad. Where surplus wood exists and is going to waste, we shall subsidize its export so that markets can be satisfied and growers paid. For example, there is a mass of wood going to waste in New Zealand which Japan Wants and which the owners Want to get rid of.  3. Exports. We believe that timber exports will one day come to be of vastly increased importance. We shall plan towards at, least six major additional forests (of 150000 acres or more) distributed throughout New Zealand as the basis for very large wood using industries.  4. Timber Price Structure  (a) to see that the grower obtains a proper return for his labour, we shall establish floor prices for timber, publicly promulgated.  (b) To see that the buyer obtains value for money, we intend to assist the industry in every way to improve its practices.  5. Farm Forestry and Local Body Forestry  (a) We shall set up local Boards of Management which will be charged with assisting farm forestry administering the F.F. loan scheme and as a selling agent for timber and other forest products grown on farms, etc. These Boards will provide expert contracting services.  (b) Funds will he made available for establishing forest stands on Maori land, in similar fashion to the present farm forestry loans scheme.  (c) We believe that several special markets for timber among other things to beautify the countryside. We propose to invite the nursery trade to cooperate with the Boards of Management in this matter.  (d) The farming community needs a supply of cheap reliable trees. We intend to cooperate with the nursery trade to see that these are freely available.  (e) We believe that several special markets for timber can be supplied by farmers better than by large enterprises or the state, for example, veneer woods, poplars, etc. We intend to promote this aspect by the provision of high quality seed sources. These will be devoted principally to those items which are now imported and which are likely to become unavailable from overseas in de future.  (f) Private individuals will be allowed to charge the cost of forest plantation development against income tax purposes.  (g) Income from farm forestry may be spread over a five-year period at normal rates of taxation.  6. Company Forestry. We intend to provide the incentives for private afforestation in connection with utilization plants. Companies will be invited to submit proposals, each of which will have to be treated on its merits. Where these are approved, long-term loans at nominal rates of interest, will be available. This will be a far cheaper way of promoting afforestation than State Forests. In certain circumstances land will also be made available.  7. Imports. We consider that, with very rare exceptions, we should not be dependent on timber imports. We intend to discuss this matter with the trade and work out means for producing the necessary grades and qualities of timber in this country with the object, in due course, of growing similar material for export when internal needs have been met.  MINING, FUEL AND POWER. Of all New Zealand's non-renewable resources, coal, of which there are known to he vast reserves, must be regarded as one of the most valuable because of the wealth of mineral by-products which will be increasingly required for the development, of our secondary industries so necessary for a balanced economy. The use of coal, therefore, for anything other than industrial purposes will not be regarded favourably. It will be the duty of the Minister of Natural Resources to ensure that the development of electric power from hydro resources will in no way diminish or eliminate the valuable contribution that the continuing sustained yield from the land will provide to the national economy for the years ahead. Although small local hydro plants appear to be not as economic as the major schemes, they could be developed to good advantage for the overall security of New Zealand. In times of national disaster it is very evident that smaller regional schemes prove invaluable in ensuring that essential services are maintained. It is basic Social Credit philosophy that every New Zealander should benefit to an equal extent from our natural resources, regardless of their situation. As electric power is universally used by everyone, it will be the ultimate aim of a Social Credit Government to have a basic flat rate for a unit of electric power throughout the country, affecting city and rural dwellers alike.  1. Mining  (i) Coal. It has long been recognized that the use of coal as a premium fuel is a wasteful and uneconomic utilisation of one of our most valuable resources. Bearing in mind the requirements of existing industries, both primary and secondary, a Social Credit Government would investigate the establishment of coal utilisation plants with the following products in mind:  (a) Nitrogenous manures for our primary industries.  (b) Chemical dyes for our woollen mills.  (c) Light and heavy oils, and petroleum.  (d) Metallurgical coke.  (e) Any other by-product essential to industry. Specialised coal deposits will be conserved for the purposes to which they are most essential.  ( ii) Other Minerals. (See also policy on Natural Resources and Land Administration.) It will be the immediate policy of a Social Credit Government to ensure that only those minerals being utilised for local industry continue to be mined, and that royalties paid will be relative to the contribution to the national economy.  (iii) Oil. We will ensure that New Zealanders will receive the benefit from any positive results from the exploration for oil at present being carried out.  2. Electric Power. Forward planning of future electric power requirements, including the provision of geo-thermal and nuclear generating stations, is at an advanced stage. It would appear that although the capital cost of hydro schemes is higher, their running costs are lower. In deciding the merits and demerits of the various projects, a Social Credit Government would favour the long-term benefit in relation to the short-term economy. Local Schemes. Power supply authorities will be encouraged to develop their own power resources where it can be shown that it is economically sound and in the public interest.  TRANSPORT. The transport industry, which is one of de largest in the country, affecting, as it does, every facet of the economy, deserves far more attention from Government than it has received in the past. The formation of a Ministry of Transport has been long overdue, but unfortunately, while the Government continues direct control of the railways, it does not give confidence to other sections of the industry as being the completely impartial administrative Department that it should be. Each medium of transport is superior for certain purposes and our objective will be to offer all transport users de most efficient and economic methods of meeting their requirements. The overall policy of a Social Credit Government will be to ensure that the Ministry of Transport carries out its duties of administering de transport industry in a fair and impartial manner. Towards this end, therefore, a Social Credit Government will implement the following policy.  1. Railways. The railway system in New Zealand has been allowed to deteriorate into a state of disrepair and disrepute, largely through the lack of Government financial support to ensure the maintenance of an efficient service. Following its initial construction which was primarily to open up the country, the railways have had to face considerable competition from various other forms of transport, and because of its inability to modernize its equipment, it has had to have regulations applied in order to maintain its very existence. These regulations have not allowed for the true competition with other transport operators that should have been possible. This has resulted in friction, and, in some cases, a complete disregard for the law. A Social Credit Government will, therefore, at the earliest possible date, form a New Zealand Railways Corporation to take over and administer the entire railway system as held by the Government at the date a Social Credit Government assumes office. We consider that no further curtailment of branch lines and services is justified in the intervening period.  2. Road Transport. It must be accepted that the road transport industry is responsible for the major portion of road and highway deterioration, which has resulted in the road transport industry bearing an ever-increasing portion, by way of taxation, of the cost of road maintenance. With the increasing use of the National Credit Account at the Reserve Bank for the upgrading of the roading system generally, the taxation burden will be reduced. This will leave more money in the hands of the industry with which to maintain and replace vehicles. At the same time, however, the industry will be expected to reduce and ultimately stabilize, freight charges.  (a) Licensing: it is recognized that same form of licence control is necessary to prevent needless waste of our resources and to reduce damage to our roads and the cost of roading. The system will, therefore, he retained.  (b) Finance: A Social Credit Government will ensure that all road transport operators have access to finance on an equal basis with the public corporations such as the Railways Corporation and the National Airways Corporation.  (c) As this aspect is one of the fundamentals of the philosophy of Social Credit, it will be the policy of a Social Credit Government to progressively reduce the restrictive regulations coming between the various sections of the transport industry and to ensure hat ultimately New Zealand has a freely competitive and efficient transport industry, operating within guidelines which are fair and reasonable to all sections of the industry, provided that priority is given to New Zealand-owned Services.  (d ) National Roads Board: A Social Credit Government will ensure that all revenues due to this Board are received and administered by it. The Board will take over the financing of the Auckland Harbour Bridge and Lyttelton Tunnel, and tolls will be abolished.  3. Research (See also policy on Research.). It is to be noted that transport is one of the terms of reference for the Scientific and Industrial Research Corporation. Being an independent body, it will be able to advise de Minister of Transport, in a completely unbiased manner, of any findings relevant to the transport industry.  4. Civil Aviation. New Zealand has built up, and is being served by, a most efficient and creditable passenger and freight service. In the agricultural and pastoral sphere, an industry has been established which could be regarded as the envy of the world for its ability to handle topdressing and spraying on all types of country. This has contributed considerably to New Zealand's increased production over recent years. Although N.A.C. provides an excellent main trunk service, there would appear to be room for more feeder services in some areas, it will be our policy to ensure that, where these are justified, finance will be made available for their establishment, and also to ensure that those other companies at present in operation are not put out of business through unfair competition. In parallel with other expanding industries, it is essential that finance be made available for expansion and modernization. It will be the policy of a Social Credit Government to ensure that finance is made available on an equal basis to that of other sections of the transport industry.  5. Coastal Shipping.  (a) We shall ensure that no unfair competition is created in our coastal shipping by other forms of transport.  (b) We shall ensure that finance is made available on, in equal basis with other forms of transport.  (c) We shall encourage integration with other forms of transport.  6. External Freights. New Zealand is completely reliant on shipping and air services for taking its products to the markets of the world. It is, therefore, the duty of Government to ensure the continuous availability, efficiency and economy from the New Zealand point of view of these services. We view with concern the present lack of effective control over this vital link and over the charges we are obliged to pay for it from our overseas earnings.  As we are not satisfied that the question of a New Zealand-owned shipping line has been fully explored, a Social Credit Government will give urgency to a full and impartial investigation of the whole question and will support the establishment of a New Zealand-owned shipping line if the investigation indicates that it is desirable, practical and economical. Such an investigation will also be required to take into consideration the possible future use of jumbo jet aircraft and their ancillary services in determining our overseas transportation needs.  7. Containerisation. Containerisation and port facilities will be investigated together with all transport services, to ensure that they are used to the best over-all efficiency for New Zealand.  TOURIST DEVELOPMENTS. A Social Credit Government will ensure the preservation of the beauties and attractions with which we are endowed as a nation, which are also part of our cultural heritage. The Nature Conservation Council Act 1962 will be suitably amended to more effectively conserve our natural scenic beauty as a national asset. As an export earner, tourism has some particular attributes. It is not subject to the price fluctuations which plague agricultural, exports, nor does it have to contend with highly competitive substitutes as do many primary commodities. Moreover the product being sold is never depleted, but increases with use. The New Zealand tourist industry is becoming a major contributor to a more balanced economy. Realizing its full potential will require imagination and planning, and, more important, encouragement to private enterprise to provide the facilities required by both local and overseas visitors. A Social Credit Government will direct its policy towards this end.  1. Tourist and Publicity Department. This Department should be defined by statute as a promotional Department, and should be divorced from the business of selling travel so that it can expend its skills and energies in the promotion of New Zealand. Legislation will be passed towards this end, and adequate finance will be provided to ensure that reasonable advertising campaigns are conducted through the appropriate media overseas.  2. New Zealand Travel and Holidays Association. We shall continue to recognize this Association as the permanent advisory body to Government, because it is so constituted that it represents the major private enterprise and organisational concerns in the tourist industry.  3. Overseas Liaison. We shall do everything possible to encourage firm liaison with Australia. Fiji and adjacent areas in the promotion of the South Pacific, in order to expand our share of the tourist travel which emanates from the jet routes of the Pacific as a whole.  4. Scenic Attractions. New Zealand's scenic attractions must be preserved, and where Such attractions are threatened with destruction or impairment by public works or industrial enterprise, the relative value of the attraction and the enterprise must be considered. In all cases alternative sites will be thoroughly investigated and used where possible, even if this may involve some extra cost and inconvenience. A Social Credit Government would regard it as a duty to ensure that our attractions are preserved f or the enjoyment of future generations.  5. Tourist Hotel Corporation. The Tourist Hotel Corporation will continue its role of development and expansion of accommodation in new areas, where private enterprise cannot or will not operate. With increased efficiency and lower interest rates for development moneys, it should be possible to reduce tariffs to a more competitive rate. This Corporation must never be allowed to become a monopoly subsidized by the taxpayer.  6. Accommodation. Finance from the State Advances Corporation will be provided for the assistance necessary to expand our tourist accommodation on a business-like basis. (See also Housing policy section 4 (b).) In our long-term planning of the tourist industry, we are in favour of divorcing "beds from beer," so that accommodation will be considered in its own right, and the sale of liquor kept as a separate issue.  7. National Parks. We shall continue the development of our National Parks with a view to improving and expanding the facilities available to both overseas tourists and New Zealanders and their families. We align ourselves with all sporting organisations opposed to take-overs of our inherited sporting and recreational rights in our national parks.  DEFENCE. A Social Credit Government will regard trade and aid as the most effective defence weapons, and will promote trade with other nations of S.E. Asia using a system of reciprocal credits. We look forward to a time when N.Z.'s Social Credit economy will be emulated by other countries, this having the effect of removing much of the economic cause of international frictions. These frictions make necessary the maintenance of expensive armed forces which constitute a drain on the capacity of each nation to produce for the betterment rather than the destruction of our fellow men. In this unsettled world we recognise the need to maintain adequate armed forces to help in preserving N.Z. sovereignty and to meet its responsibilities where these do not infringe the rights to freedom and security of other nations.  1. Equipment and Training. New Zealand's armed forces will be supplied with modern equipment which will be kept up to date. Close liaison will be maintained with our allies in seeking standardization of equipment and training.  2. Army. The Army will consist of a highly trained force of adequate size capable of rapid expansion by increased recruitment to meet any need which may arise.  3. Air Force. The Royal New Zealand Air Force will continue to operate in its combat, ground support, transport and maritime roles, and updating of aircraft and equipment will be maintained to ensure peak efficiency.  4. Navy. The present force of frigates will be phased out and replaced by a force of high speed missile equipped, ocean-going patrol boats e.g. British Tenacity class. This casts the Navy into an offshore support role to the other services. These boats will be very suitable for the fisheries protection service.  5. Service Personnel. Conditions for all service personnel will be re-examined and made more attractive where required in all aspects from enlistment to rehabilitation to civilian life.  6. Compulsory Training. Compulsory military training will be abolished.  7. Civil Defence and Relief Work. Recent history has highlighted the vital nature of the role to be played by the Civil Defence organization. We shall ensure that this organization is developed and strengthened so that it may move quickly and efficiently whenever the need arises. We shall continue to have local organizations administered by local bodies and we shall reimburse them their administrative costs which are at present an added burden to their already strained finances. The armed forces will play a greater part in civil defence and relief work in N.Z. and also in the Pacific and S.E. Asian areas.  IMMIGRATION. New Zealand's greatest need is to retain the services of its own citizens. The net loss of population, particularly of those with academic and business acumen, through better overseas prospects can only be countered by offering such people equal or better prospects to stay or to return. This can be achieved by stabilizing our cost of living, decreasing our present disincentive taxation level, and regaining the confidence of our people by providing administration that will satisfy these points.  SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. There is a pressing need in New Zealand for a far  wider and all-embracing approach to all aspects of research which should be divorced from any political influence. The heavy loss of research personnel is not altogether due to the salary scales, but to a certain extent is caused by frustration in their work, due to restrictive administrative procedures and lack of adequate research finance.  Scientific and Industrial Research Corporation. The D.S.I.R. will be reconstituted as a Scientific and Industrial Research Corporation which will be charged with the following responsibilities:  (a) co-ordinating and pursuing research into such matters as agriculture, forestry, transport, building, fuel, electric power and sea fishing.  (b) Ensuring that the remuneration of all personnel employed compares favourably with overseas conditions.  (c) Ensuring that modern and up-to-date equipment is available at all times.  (d) Ensuring that the health of man is maintained at all times, in relationship to that of animals and the soil.  (e) Ensuring that stations are maintained in suitable districts.  In a world of technology, increased research is vital to the country's future and standard of living, and in consequence the necessary financial grants would be provided. Note 1. In its 1965 Report to Parliament, the National Research Advisory Council stressed that the most desirable methods of electric power development demanded in increasingly detailed knowledge of water, coal gas geothermal steam, and uranium resources. Note 2. In its annual Report for the year ended 31 march 1965 (page 30) the Council said, in connection with poisons in agriculture: This Council is convinced that a research unit is necessary to watch and assess the build-up of effects on animal populations, insect life, and ultimately life in the waters. Consideration of this and other conservation problems has confirmed the Council's belief that the basic research can be carried out more successfully by an independent agency.  PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION. New Zealand has been, and is still being, served by a loyal, competent and efficient staff of public servants. The goodwill, however, so necessary between employer and employee is fast vanishing as a result of the complete disregard the present Government had for the Public Service Association when passing the State Services Act 1962. It will be the first duty of a Social Credit Government, therefore, to regain the goodwill of all public servants. The present policy of engaging overseas consultants for many of New Zealand's problems is in many cases unnecessary, and reflects on the capabilities of our top professional and technical staff. This practice is creating an unnecessary drain on New Zealand's hard-earned overseas funds, and will therefore be discontinued. Should it be necessary to obtain the benefit of overseas experience it would be preferable to send our own personnel overseas for the purpose. It has been openly stated that some senior public servants are bureaucrats. This, in our opinion, is the direct result of weak Government, and does not reflect upon the individuals concerned who have no doubt acted always with the best of intentions. It is the duty of the elected Government to ensure that policy is correctly formed and carried out.  1. State Services Act 1962. This Act will be amended if necessary, to ensure that there is more flexibility of promotion without the incessant, costly, and sometimes unnecessary transfer of staff. This can be achieved by the use of personal grading, or merit promotion. The present inflexibility is costing the country untold amounts in staff movement and staff goodwill.  2. State Service Commissioners. We believe that the State Service Commissioners should be selected from outside the Service. This would ensure a less biased approach to appointments. We believe that the three State Service Commissioners should in every way be free of political control, and in effect have the freedom of the judiciary. Their position should not amble them to become Permanent Departmental Heads.  3. Permanent Heads of Departments. Permanent Heads will continue to be appointed by the State Service Commission. Their position will also hold the open right of appeal.  4. Representation on Producer Boards. The practice of appointing retired public servants to Producer Boards will be investigated. Their technical ability can be invaluable but their knowledge of Departmental personnel could be embarrassing to Permanent Heads.  5. Departmental Administration. In order to improve the approach of public administration, we believe all Departments should have a top executive committee, comprising not less than six and not more than twelve members, according to the size of the Department, constituted both to advise on and carry out Government policy. Where appropriate, representatives from closely allied interests will be included in the executive committee. The Minister will be chairman and will hold regular meetings throughout the year.  6. Promotion. There appears to be an increasing emphasis on professional qualifications rather than personal administrative ability. This should not be the case. There must always be a balance maintained between the professional man and the competent proven administrator.  7. Right of Appeal. Appeal Board personnel should be appointed from outside the State Service. In any case where an employee is not carrying out the policy of the Government, then the Minister should always retain the right to prematurely retire the individual in question.  8. Salary Scales. For too long now the salary rates within the Service have been lagging behind the ruling rates. Past Governments have been only too pleased to accept this delay in ruling rate surveys, etc., to avoid any undue financial pressure, during any fiscal year. This must not continue. Public servants in common with all other employees are entitled to the immediate percentage increase in salary as determined by the Court of Arbitration. This will apply to all public employees.  9. Housing. Where housing is provided for public servants in particular positions, the rentals charged should be regarded as part of the cost structure of the particular Department. Any concession that may be apparent in these rentals should be regarded purely as a concession for that particular position.  10. Transport. Where public servants have to use a car for their particular position in a Department, then financial assistance will be given to such individuals to purchase a car at no more than three per cent. This will avoid undue pressure for Departmental vehicles, encourage private ownership and lessen the overhead costs of Departments.  11. Superannuation. The present percentage basis for public servants for joining the government Superannuation Scheme of 6 per cent up to the age of 30 years with increasing percentages over this age is based on the insurance risk approach and tends to discourage those joining the Service later in life from participating on an equal basis. We consider a universal 6 per cent deduction for superannuation from all public servants to be fair and reasonable.  12. Superannuitants. Upon assuming office a Social Credit Government will immediately institute a review of all Superannuitants, with a view to placing them in the position in which they would have been had they been retiring at the time of the review.  APPENDIX. Background to the Policy Statement on Rating. The following sets out the Social Credit League's policy as an alternative to the rating methods at present available to local bodies. The League submits that the costs of present rate assessment and administration are excessive and unwarranted. The League’s alternative will take the emphasis completely away from valuation, placing the emphasis in rural areas on land quality, and in urban areas on payment, relative to services rendered. Once the system is adopted by a local body there should be no further costs involved in its administration from that point onwards. This will mean considerable savings, which will to some degree assist in stabilizing the ever-increasing rates in the short-term, while the League's local body finance proposals will assure ratepayers of long-term benefits.  Rural Areas and Land Classification. There has been in operation in New Zealand for some time a land classification system based on an accepted international standard. Classes vary from class one, which is the highest quality land, comprising deep loans and silts, to class eight, which comprises bare mountain tops and scree. From class one to eight are all the intermediate classes, which are well defined, as they are compiled from land inventory maps based on the physical properties of the land and its productive ability. Detailed soil maps are available for to whole of the country, so that it will be a relatively straightforward matter to complete classification for any one county, for the purpose of rating. Once the classification maps are completed, it will be simply a matter of super-imposing the titles on to the master sheet. The end result will be that every farm will be divided into various classes, so that every owner will know exactly for all time the areas in their respective classes. From this point onward the local body will be empowered to assess rates on the respective classes, which could be varied from riding to riding. In the case of county towns, there will be no reason why the adoption of the urban system cannot be implemented. Where there are industrial undertakings situated within the county, a special rate assessment could be arrived at commensurate with the services rendered by the local body concerned.  Cities and Boroughs. All local bodies will have to comply with the town planning regulations as under the Town and Country planning Act. All county towns, boroughs and cities will have their urban areas schemed into the various categories, industrial commercial and residential. These categories, once adopted and approved by the local bodies concerned, will then be the basis for assessment of the rating incidence. In residential areas, the specific zones will be determined by the density of living units relative to the services provided by the local body. The three zonings within the residential category will be A. B and C. Residential A will be basically the family or single dwelling unit with the lowest number of units per acre. Residential B will be zones surrounding zone C (high-density housing) and beyond, also fringing the commercial areas. Here density of the units will determine the zone boundary, but as with zone A, will be more clearly defined according to the number of home units per acre. Residential C will be high-density housing, such as high rise flats. The unit density per site is established firstly by the site occupancy rate, and secondly by the location of the site in relation to areas of open space surrounding the site, and the dimensions of the streets in the area. This is also related to the number of units that can be placed on the site, and therefore the amount of local body services that these units will use. While the basic rate will be determined by the zone, the individual site rating must he determined by the use made of the particular site as compared with that of the adjoining site. For instance, a site with 10 flat units would pay a proportionately higher rate to that containing one residence, although in the same zone. In the case of commercial zoning, the basic rate will be determined on a lineal basis. There will, however, have to be exemptions on those sections which are still being utilized as residential. These naturally will be rated on the equivalent to residential C. High rise buildings will pay a relatively higher rate to that of a single floor. This will be calculated on a sliding scale, based on the various factors relevant to the use being made of the local body services provided. Industrial zoning will be based on area, and the use made of local body services.  Summary. The benefits expected to result from the adoption of these proposals can be summarised as follows:  1. A considerable saving in the cost of administration, resulting from the non-recurring cost of valuation.  2. The emphasis will be placed on the equitable payment to the local body for services rendered, e.g., two dwellings alongside each other should pay the same relative rate for the same services used by the same number of people, regardless of the cost of the dwelling.  3. Local bodies will be given statutory power to vary the rate from riding to riding.  4. With the increasing use of rural land for developing the tourist industry, the farming community in many instances is at present being penalised for the higher cost of land transactions, which has no bearing on the farming industry.  5. The community will appreciate the ability to buy and sell land for what it is truly worth to them, on the basis that they pay an equitable rate to that of their neighbour. Farmland and urban dwellings will soon find their real worth.  6. The valuation profession will establish its true place in the community.