The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. MONDAY, MARCH 4, 1901. OUR CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 53, 4 March 1901, Page 4

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

MONDAY, MARCH 4, 1901. OUR CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE

Tor the cause that lacks atsiztaccs, For the -wrong that needs reeietanoe, For Die fattm in the distance, Isd thi rood that -we oan it.

The federation of our Chambers of Commerce is in harmony with the spirit of the age. The example of the nations of the old world is in favour of it. If our federated Chambers keep as" free as possible from party politics, great benefits may ensue to New Zea-. land. We say as free as possible, knowing- how impossible it is for commercial men of strong political convictions to leave these convictions outside the doors of our Chambers of Commerce; and knowing, too, how political and commercial questions touch and intermingle in practical life. Franco, the birthplace of Chambers of Commerce, affords many illustrations of this from the 15th century to the present day. They have again and again been interfered with and suppressed for a time by the Government of France for their party spirit in politics. The oldest Chambers in Great Britain, Glasgow, and Edinburgh have been famous for their interest in political questions. The Edinburgh Chamber was not only the first public body that petitioned for the abolition dT the corn laws, it upheld also the principles of free trade in general, long before the first powerful Chamber in England—that of Manchester—backed up the Manchester school of politics. The conservatism of the London Chamber of Commerce has been proverbial, and has simply been taken for granted by Liberal governments. The most telling illustrations of how success in trade and the possession of property often change the Birmingham Radical into the London Tory have been drawn from the proceedings of this great Chamber of Commerce. A seat there seems almost as powerful as a seat in the House of Lords in changing political view points. __ Auckland is not behind the age in the political leanings of her Chamber of Commerce. Her commercial sages are perfectly human. "Proputty" has as many charms to them as to Tennyson's northern fai--raer, and, we fear, tells seriously upon their political opinions. The compi-e----hemsrve address given by the retiring president deepens this impression. We 'have the greatest respect for Mr Samuel Vaile, as one of our venerable pioneers, railway reformers, and doughty champions of "Proputty," and the terror of rousing up a political antagonist, grown grey in public controversy, as well as in public efforts to extend his commercial influence, is very Teal, Nevertheless, we are compelled to enter a protest against the .party spirit of tihe ex-president's address, and against several opinions manifestly coloured by political prejudices, However impossible to shut ■the doors of our Chambers of Oommeree

against political partisanship—as the { pftat history of our own and. of similar j institutions in other lands may prove vet wise and dispassionate businessmen of all shades of political opinion i deprecate the needless intrusion of i this into commercial affairs. Mr. Vaile's criticism of what he; terms "dangerous legislation" is a | sample of the unconscious bias of the j critic's mind. The impression g^ven of the "Destitute Persona Act of 1894" would lead us to suppose that our j law-makers are so utterly idiotic as to j attempt to burden the property of any citizen of Auckland, quite unknown to him, with the maintenance of any destitute person in Dunedin, Christchureh or Wellington. The fact of that person being a destitute wife |or mother, or other near relative, who I should be cared for by the property ! owner, is not stated. In other words, j the benign intention of the Act is j concealed from view, and its petty influence upon the sale of property | made the most of. The same unfair style of criticism is indulged in in regard to "The Workers Compensation for Accidents Act, 1000." Xot a single word of sympathy for countless widows and children, suddenly bereft of the staff of daily bread by the death of the workman, that might have been prevented by the carefulness of masters; and not a single word jn praise, but several in needless depreciation, of the Insurance Act, providing against charges for the accidental death. Another manifest sample of political bias is found in Mr Vaile's explanation of something truly mysterious. He has been compelled by facts to admit the remarkable progress of the colony during the past year. The commercial progress of the whole, and of that important part of it, the province or Auckland, cannot be denied. Still, to the keen eye of this commercial statesman, "it appears as though something is checking the development of the country, and we shall do well to try and discover the cause." That is not difficult to this party politician. "For my part I have little doubt that it is the resulj of the recent legislation affecting labour and capital." This is one of the stock utterances of Conservative minds. It iri neither fresh nor profound in the presence of a supposed commercial mystery. How very different from the explanation —of any lack of commercial progress in Great. Britain—to that of Lord Kosebery and Mr. Chamberlain. if the want of a superior commercial education is felt keenly at Home in presence of the competitive skill of Germany, America and other nations, and if this want is causing anxiety to lead-1 ing statesmen, greater than any arising out of labour legislation, already passed, and urgently projected, of a similar kind to our colony, might not even Mn Vaile have mentioned it? We believe if he had been less under the influence of political and property bias, our interesting Auckland statesman might have discovered, not only v want of commercial education, but many other causes more alarming than labour legislation, for national, ! commercial shortcomings. Booms, for (example, reckless and dishonest trad-' ing, and other bad habits of the people, high and humble, might have been thought of by a practical philosopher* in the chair of the Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Vqile may be strong on railway questions, and his statistics, so often questioned and denied, may be correct, but it does not I lead to public confidence in his special opiniona on [railway matters to find his mind so manifestly biased by social and party prejudices. The suggestion of the overvaluing of our exports —unworthy of his position in the chair of the Chamber of Commerce —without proofs at hand —we leave for the condemnation of less sympathetic critics.