PRIVATE ENTERPRISE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 135, 10 June 1938, Page 6

PRIVATE ENTERPRISE.

GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE. (To the Editor.) The Hon. P. C. Webh said at Hamiltol that "the Government only interfered with private enterprise when it failed to do the job and then only did the Government intervene to produce order out of chaos." Just why should the Government by its interference make order out of chaos? Perhaps the Government might make the chaos more chaotic. Who is the more capable of emplovin<» labour, the Government or the individual? The Government by taxation takes, let us say, £100 from the taxpayer to make order out of chaos. The taxpayer, not having this £100, cannot employ labour. The Government, now having this £100. can employ labour. The position is exactly the same as before: one has merely transferred the employing capacity from the individual to the Government. The £100 is still £100. The Government takes the £100 and employs labour on the chaos. The individual, not having the £100. is unable to employ labour on the chaos. Who is the more capable of employing labour and making order out of chaos? Undoubtedly the individual: at being his own money he is consequently more capable of looking afterjit and using it to the best advantage. In nirj» cases out of ten the public work done by the Government is unnecessary and costly. There 5= already too mwch Socialism, that is. ownership and control by the Government, in Xew Zealand. * G.C.