Bill Sutch
Encyclopedia
William Ball Sutch was a New Zealand
economist, historian, writer
, public servant, and public intellectual. In 1974, he was charged with trying to pass New Zealand Government information to the Soviet Union
. He was acquitted.
, England
in 1907, but his family moved to New Zealand when he was only eight months old. His father, Ebenezer (Ted) Sutch, was a journeyman carpenter, and his mother, Ellen Sutch (née Ball), a dressmaker. He grew up in the Methodist
faith, which was to have a strong influence on him throughout his life. He went to Wellington College
, then the Wellington College of Education and Victoria University College (later Victoria University of Wellington
) where he gained a MA
and B.Com
. He taught at Nelson College
(he did much of his degrees part time, while teaching) and Wanganui Technical College before travelling overseas on a fellowship to Columbia University, New York, where he was awarded Ph.D in Economics in 1932. He returned to New Zealand during the Great Depression
, which deeply affected his personal philosophy.
In 1933, following some teaching in Palmerston North Boys’ High Sutch took up a position in the office of Gordon Coates
, who was Minister of Finance
. When the government changed, he continued on in the office of Coates's successor, Walter Nash
of the First Labour Government. He had considerable input into economic policy at the time. Eventually, Sutch's political activities were deemed incompatible with his official role, and he was transferred out of the economic sphere. He left the civil service to join the army, becoming an instructor. He returned to the Ministry of Supply arranging equipment and finance. At the end of the war, he took up a position with the new United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
, working in Sydney
and then in London, covering war-devastated Europe. As a result of this work, he was selected to head the New Zealand delegation to the United Nations, where he held positions with the Economic and Social Commission
and UNICEF
. He played a crucial role in a UN decision to continue with UNICEF, despite a United States
desire to close it down. Ben Alpers has said that some of the credit for UNICEF’s Nobel Prize for Peace should go to W. B. Sutch and New Zealand.
Upon returning to New Zealand in 1951, Sutch worked for the Department of Industries and Commerce, eventually in 1958 rising to be its Secretary. There he promoted the development of the New Zealand economy using the policy instruments of the day, including price controls
, subsidies and import controls. He concluded that pastoral exports by themselves would not generate enough foreign exchange to maintain full employment, and would continue to make the economy highly vulnerable to fluctuations in international conditions. So he sought import substitution, the further processing of agricultural production for export, and the exporting of non-pastoral agricultural exports, manufacturing and services (such as tourism). As such he foresaw, championed and laid the foundations of the great export diversifications of the 1970s.
Sutch’’s promotion of industrialisation, was anathema to much of the farming community, though many in the business community supported him. In March 1965 he was forced to retire after 40 years of public service employment and at the age of 57 he became a consultant. Among his many further publications were the books, Colony or Nation?, The Responsible Society in New Zealand, Takeover New Zealand, and Women with a Cause. His Festschrift, Spirit of an Age, was published in 1975. Sutch became active in the arts and architectural communities, including the Wellington Architectural Centre
. He was an early and active promoter of New Zealand design
, asserting that quality design was central to economic and social development. He helped to set up the Wellington Architectural Centre, provided the intellectual framework that led to the formation of the New Zealand Industrial Design Council and chaired the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council (now Creative NZ).
Sutch’s writing provides one of the most comprehensive accounts of, and visions for, New Zealand. While his views were often original and independent, many that were rejected at the time are now accepted. He was a nation-builder who wanted to see an economically strong and socially fair New Zealand, free from colonial ties, whether economic or political. He was a committed nationalist, and on many matters ahead of his times.
It was claimed by the Security Intelligence Service (SIS)
that Sutch had obtained official government information to give to the Soviets although no such information was ever found, and he had been out of the public service for almost a decade. Following a high-profile trial which gripped all New Zealand, a jury acquitted Sutch of the charges in February 1975.
Neither the New Zealand police nor the SIS could provide any evidence that Sutch had passed information to the Soviet diplomat (hence the curious charge that he faced, under the Official Secrets Act, of passing unspecified information to the Soviet Union). Sutch was certainly naive to be meeting a Soviet diplomat under such circumstances, he was asking for trouble. The only explanation he offered was that the Russian ostensibly approached him in his capacity as a stalwart of the NZ Friends of Israel, for information about who were the Zionists in New Zealand, but he wondered if the Russian was seeking help to defect.
There were unsubstantiated claims that he was a member of the Communist Party
. He once said that he could not belong to any party because he would never be told by anyone what to think, he would never follow any party line. For much of his life he was an admirer of the Soviet Union. If he was in any way a ‘‘fellow traveller’’, he walked a very independent path. Like British socialism, Bill Sutch was more influenced by Methodism than Marxism.
Sutch began to suffer ill health at about the same time as he was arrested and died six months after the trial on 28 September 1975 at Wellington, shortly after holding his just-born first grandson, Piers.
Debate over his guilt or innocence continued long after his death. A book published in 2006 by C.H (Kit) Bennetts, the SIS officer who had first observed Sutch, reasserted the claim that he was guilty, but offered no new evidence. On 9 May 2008, most of the SIS file on the Sutch and the trial were declassified. The files contained no new material information. Neither do his ASIO, FBI nor UNRRA files which have all been released. One observer remarked that had the jury seen the evidence of the files the case would have been laughed out of court. On the other hand a Top Secret 1976 report by chief ombudsman Sir Guy Powles
found that SIS actions had been unlawful when they burgled and bugged his office .
The events surrounding the trial overshadowed the significance of his substantial achievements and have muted subsequent recognition of his significant intellectual and policy contributions to New Zealand and, his role in the establishment of UNICEF, to the world.
.
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
economist, historian, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, public servant, and public intellectual. In 1974, he was charged with trying to pass New Zealand Government information to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. He was acquitted.
Early life
Sutch was born in SouthportSouthport
Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. During the 2001 census Southport was recorded as having a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1907, but his family moved to New Zealand when he was only eight months old. His father, Ebenezer (Ted) Sutch, was a journeyman carpenter, and his mother, Ellen Sutch (née Ball), a dressmaker. He grew up in the Methodist
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
faith, which was to have a strong influence on him throughout his life. He went to Wellington College
Wellington College (New Zealand)
Wellington College is a state secondary school for boys in Mount Victoria in Wellington, New Zealand.-History:Wellington College opened in 1867 as Wellington Grammar School in Woodward Street, though Sir George Grey gave the school a deed of endowment in 1853. In 1874 it opened at its present...
, then the Wellington College of Education and Victoria University College (later Victoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a former constituent college of the University of New Zealand. It is particularly well known for its programmes in law, the humanities, and some scientific disciplines, but offers a broad range of other courses...
) where he gained a MA
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
and B.Com
Bachelor of Commerce
A Bachelor of Commerce is an undergraduate degree in commerce and related subjects. The degree is also known as the Bachelor of Commerce and Administration, or BCA...
. He taught at Nelson College
Nelson College
Nelson College is a boys-only state secondary school in Nelson, New Zealand. It teaches from years 9 to 13. In addition, it runs a private Preparatory School for year 7 and 8 boys...
(he did much of his degrees part time, while teaching) and Wanganui Technical College before travelling overseas on a fellowship to Columbia University, New York, where he was awarded Ph.D in Economics in 1932. He returned to New Zealand during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, which deeply affected his personal philosophy.
Career
Politically, Sutch was generally on the left, although his wide network of friends included people of all political persuasions, and perhaps the person he most admired was the centre-right politician Gordon Coates. He was involved in a number of left-leaning organisations and associations, and helped edit and publish literature connected with them. In 1939, he assisted the publication of Psycho-pathology in politics, written by Labour Party dissident John A. Lee which was an attack on the party's leader, Michael Joseph Savage. Sutch wrote numerous books. Among the first were: Poverty and Progress in New Zealand (1941, 1969) and The Quest for Security in New Zealand. (1942, 1966).In 1933, following some teaching in Palmerston North Boys’ High Sutch took up a position in the office of Gordon Coates
Gordon Coates
Joseph Gordon Coates, MC and bar served as the 21st Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1925 to 1928.- Early life :Born on the Hukatere Peninsula in Kaipara Harbour where his family ran a farm, Coates took on significant responsibility at a relatively early age because his father suffered from...
, who was Minister of Finance
Minister of Finance (New Zealand)
The Minister of Finance is a senior figure within the government of New Zealand. The position is often considered to be the most important Cabinet role after that of the Prime Minister....
. When the government changed, he continued on in the office of Coates's successor, Walter Nash
Walter Nash
Sir Walter Nash, GCMG, CH served as the 27th Prime Minister of New Zealand in the Second Labour Government from 1957 to 1960, and was also highly influential in his role as Minister of Finance...
of the First Labour Government. He had considerable input into economic policy at the time. Eventually, Sutch's political activities were deemed incompatible with his official role, and he was transferred out of the economic sphere. He left the civil service to join the army, becoming an instructor. He returned to the Ministry of Supply arranging equipment and finance. At the end of the war, he took up a position with the new United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration was an international relief agency, largely dominated by the United States but representing 44 nations. Founded in 1943, it became part of the United Nations in 1945, was especially active in 1945 and 1946, and largely shut down...
, working in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
and then in London, covering war-devastated Europe. As a result of this work, he was selected to head the New Zealand delegation to the United Nations, where he held positions with the Economic and Social Commission
United Nations Economic and Social Council
The Economic and Social Council of the United Nations constitutes one of the six principal organs of the United Nations and it is responsible for the coordination of the economic, social and related work of 14 UN specialized agencies, its functional commissions and five regional commissions...
and UNICEF
United Nations Children's Fund
United Nations Children's Fund was created by the United Nations General Assembly on December 11, 1946, to provide emergency food and healthcare to children in countries that had been devastated by World War II...
. He played a crucial role in a UN decision to continue with UNICEF, despite a United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
desire to close it down. Ben Alpers has said that some of the credit for UNICEF’s Nobel Prize for Peace should go to W. B. Sutch and New Zealand.
Upon returning to New Zealand in 1951, Sutch worked for the Department of Industries and Commerce, eventually in 1958 rising to be its Secretary. There he promoted the development of the New Zealand economy using the policy instruments of the day, including price controls
Price controls
Price controls are governmental impositions on the prices charged for goods and services in a market, usually intended to maintain the affordability of staple foods and goods, and to prevent price gouging during shortages, or, alternatively, to insure an income for providers of certain goods...
, subsidies and import controls. He concluded that pastoral exports by themselves would not generate enough foreign exchange to maintain full employment, and would continue to make the economy highly vulnerable to fluctuations in international conditions. So he sought import substitution, the further processing of agricultural production for export, and the exporting of non-pastoral agricultural exports, manufacturing and services (such as tourism). As such he foresaw, championed and laid the foundations of the great export diversifications of the 1970s.
Sutch’’s promotion of industrialisation, was anathema to much of the farming community, though many in the business community supported him. In March 1965 he was forced to retire after 40 years of public service employment and at the age of 57 he became a consultant. Among his many further publications were the books, Colony or Nation?, The Responsible Society in New Zealand, Takeover New Zealand, and Women with a Cause. His Festschrift, Spirit of an Age, was published in 1975. Sutch became active in the arts and architectural communities, including the Wellington Architectural Centre
Wellington Architectural Centre
The Architectural Centre Inc is a nonprofit organization in Wellington, New Zealand for architects and laypeople which offers lectures, site visits, tours and exhibitions.It is a co-organiser of Wellington Architecture Week.-History of the Centre:...
. He was an early and active promoter of New Zealand design
New Zealand design
New Zealand design is both a product of indigenous Maori culture and European traditions and practices where the concept of design applies to Maori Kaupapa as well as other cultural spheres.- Maori design :...
, asserting that quality design was central to economic and social development. He helped to set up the Wellington Architectural Centre, provided the intellectual framework that led to the formation of the New Zealand Industrial Design Council and chaired the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council (now Creative NZ).
Sutch’s writing provides one of the most comprehensive accounts of, and visions for, New Zealand. While his views were often original and independent, many that were rejected at the time are now accepted. He was a nation-builder who wanted to see an economically strong and socially fair New Zealand, free from colonial ties, whether economic or political. He was a committed nationalist, and on many matters ahead of his times.
Controversy
In September 1974, Sutch was charged under the Official Secrets Act in relation over information he allegedly passed to KGB agent Dimitri Rasgovorov, an official of the Soviet Union's embassy in Wellington. Sutch holds the unique ordeal of being the only New Zealander ever to stand trial under the espionage provisions of the former Official Secrets Act enacted in 1951, based on the British Act of 1951.It was claimed by the Security Intelligence Service (SIS)
New Zealand Security Intelligence Service
The New Zealand Security Intelligence Service is an intelligence agency of the New Zealand government.-Purpose:As a civilian organisation, the Security Intelligence Service takes no part in the enforcement of security...
that Sutch had obtained official government information to give to the Soviets although no such information was ever found, and he had been out of the public service for almost a decade. Following a high-profile trial which gripped all New Zealand, a jury acquitted Sutch of the charges in February 1975.
Neither the New Zealand police nor the SIS could provide any evidence that Sutch had passed information to the Soviet diplomat (hence the curious charge that he faced, under the Official Secrets Act, of passing unspecified information to the Soviet Union). Sutch was certainly naive to be meeting a Soviet diplomat under such circumstances, he was asking for trouble. The only explanation he offered was that the Russian ostensibly approached him in his capacity as a stalwart of the NZ Friends of Israel, for information about who were the Zionists in New Zealand, but he wondered if the Russian was seeking help to defect.
There were unsubstantiated claims that he was a member of the Communist Party
Communist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
. He once said that he could not belong to any party because he would never be told by anyone what to think, he would never follow any party line. For much of his life he was an admirer of the Soviet Union. If he was in any way a ‘‘fellow traveller’’, he walked a very independent path. Like British socialism, Bill Sutch was more influenced by Methodism than Marxism.
Sutch began to suffer ill health at about the same time as he was arrested and died six months after the trial on 28 September 1975 at Wellington, shortly after holding his just-born first grandson, Piers.
Debate over his guilt or innocence continued long after his death. A book published in 2006 by C.H (Kit) Bennetts, the SIS officer who had first observed Sutch, reasserted the claim that he was guilty, but offered no new evidence. On 9 May 2008, most of the SIS file on the Sutch and the trial were declassified. The files contained no new material information. Neither do his ASIO, FBI nor UNRRA files which have all been released. One observer remarked that had the jury seen the evidence of the files the case would have been laughed out of court. On the other hand a Top Secret 1976 report by chief ombudsman Sir Guy Powles
Guy Powles
Sir Guy Richardson Powles, ONZ, KBE, CMG . New Zealand diplomat, last Governor of Western Samoa and architect of Samoan independence, and first Ombudsman.-Early life:...
found that SIS actions had been unlawful when they burgled and bugged his office .
The events surrounding the trial overshadowed the significance of his substantial achievements and have muted subsequent recognition of his significant intellectual and policy contributions to New Zealand and, his role in the establishment of UNICEF, to the world.
Personal life
On 12 January 1934 at Wellington, Bill Sutch married Morva Milburn Williams, a schoolteacher. There were no children of the marriage. His marriage to Morva was dissolved on 2 February 1944, and he married Shirley Hilda Stanley Smith (1916–2008), a lecturer and later a lawyer, in Auckland on 2 June that year. They had one daughter, Helen, who was economic adviser to Prime Minister David Lange and rose to a prominent position with the World BankWorld Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
.