NON-POLITICAL?

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 221, 18 September 1929, Page 13

NON-POLITICAL?

CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE. LABOUR MEMBERS DIFFER. CIVIL SERVANTS AS MEMBERS. (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. The allegation that chambers of commerce are party political bodies was made in the House yesterday by the Rev. Clyde Carr (Timaru). He said that if members of the Government service wished to be members of chambers of commerce, or if chamDers wished them to be members, then they should be semi-official members or honorary members. The Government should not pay a party political organisation like a chamber of commerce fees on behalf of members of the Government service. It had been said that great benefits acrcued from having Government officers on chambers of commerce, said Mr. Carr. To whom did the benefits accrue— to the Departments or to chambers of commerce? If the subscriptions of public servants were to be paid for the membership of chambers of commerce then why not allow employees of the Agricultural Department to be members of the, Farmers' Union, and employees of the Labour Department to be members of trades and labour councils? If chambers of commerce benefited from having public servants as members, then they should pay the membership fee. '.'ls it for more business in Government or more Government in business that these affiliations and flirtations are going on, and these matrimonial alliances solemnised?" asked Mr. Carr. Certainly the membership could, not be of very great benefit to the public servants, unless, of course, they had political sympathies. He protested against allowing party political affiliations to enter into Government Departments, and he objected to the Government money being used for party political purposes. Mr. Barnard's Experience. ' A different point of view from that expressed by his Labour colleague was voiced by Mr. W. E. Barnard (Napier). He thought it unfair to say that a chamber of commerce was necessarily a party political organisation. "In the very year in which I fought an election as Labour candidate I was president of a chamber of commerce," said Mr. Barnard, "and I found no difficulty in! holding the dual position." Ho thought that responsible Government officers should be in chambers of commerce, also on farmers' unions and trades and labour councils. Mr. R. McKeen (Wellington South) contended that the time had arrived when the State should keep its servants entirely free from such organisations. If the present state of affairs were permitted to continue they might have some officers wanting to become members of the 1928 Committee or of welfare leagues, so as to get in amongst their friends. Mr. A. Hamilton (Wallace) thought it was very essential that Departmental heads, should be associated with chambers of commerce. Payment by Results. Mr. F. Langstone (Waimarino) said the principal members of chambers- of commerce were dentists, lawyers, wouldbe engineers and people of their class, who were out for the abolition of the Arbitration Act and believed in payment by results. "If they were paid by results then they would not get anything at all," said Mr. Langstone. "There are no results to pay them for. Land agents, dentists, doctors, lawyers and all the half-pie professional people settled their own fees, but they wanted the workers to go before a tribunal to have their fees settled for them."

"Chambers of commerce are non-poli-tical organisations," declared the Minister of Industries and Commerce, the Hon. J. G. Cobbe, amidst laughter, in defending the voting of money to cover the membership fees of Government officers. Chambers of commerce occupied an important position in the Dominion, and they were of the very greatest possible use to all classes of the community. Government officers obtained valuable information by being members of the chambers. 1