The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 1926. A RELIC OF THE WAR.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 142, 17 June 1926, Page 6

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

THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 1926. A RELIC OF THE WAR.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that toe can do.

The Great War left us with many legacies of ill from which, unfortunately, there is no means of parting. There are others, however, which could readily be dispensed with, but which have been permitted to linger on, to be used for purposes for which they were never originally intended, and in violation of the spirit of the Dominion's common law. Chief of these is the Board of Trade Act, which was originally passed during the troublous time of returning peace, to continue the checks on unfair trading imposed by war legislation and to assure fair treatment for the ultimate consumer I in times of scarcity. With the return of normality and the full resumpton of trade in its ordinary channels the need for such repressive measures as were included in the Board of Trade Act vanished, and ultimately the board perished from inanition, its life being terminated by the Amendment Act of 1923. But while the board was extinguished its scope was perpetuated in a more vicious form, the whole of its functions and drastic powers being transferred to the Minister of Industries and Commerce. Thus one Minister is given despotic authority over the whole business community, and « unlimited rights of interference with the ordinary course of trade. He is not likely to exercise those powers except upon the advice of his Departmental officers, but that, far from being a safeguard, opens the door to bureaucratic control of a type which is directly opposed to British tradition in both Government and business. How grossly the Act may be misused is shown by the fact that the bus regulations were issued under it, in absolute defiance of the spirit underlying the Act —the prevention of monopoly. There is no denying that if the regulations referred to prove effective they will foster monopoly, not check it. An Act which can be used directly to contravene its own spirit should not be permitted to disgrace the Statute Book, and no time should be lost, now that Parliament is in session, in repealing it and removing bureaucratic powers which are the negation of democracy.

The bus regulations are only one example of the manner in which this Act can be used for purposes for which it was never intended. An article which we publish in another column shows that quite recently investigators under the regulations examined the books of fruit merchants and scrutinised their sales. It was a shock to the merchants to discover that euch arbitrary powers exist, and they have been joined by other business men in a strong protest against the continuance of such a state ol affairs. There

may have been excuse for granting such extensive powers when the whole business eystem was in a state of flux and uncertainty. That excuse no longer exists, trade is now on a firm and sound basis, and indiscriminate interference with its course, either by Departmental officers or by Ministers of the Crown should only be possible under special legislation designed to meet particular circumstances, not under a blanket Act, whose scope may apparently include anything "from pitch and toss to manslaughter."