The Auckland Star WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News. Morning News. The Echo and Sun. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1936. THE THREAT TO INDUSTRY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 237, 6 October 1936, Page 6

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

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1936. THE THREAT TO INDUSTRY.

PALESTINE DISTURBANCES.

MOTORISTS AND PARKING.

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

The resolution passed yesterday at a special general meeting of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce broadly represents the views of those who have read the terms of the Industrial Efficiency Bill and are beginning to understand its implications. Their opposition to the Bill in its present form is not prompted by hostility to the Government, nor is it wholly due to disagreement with the principle of "rationalisation," but it is the outcome of the conviction that the extreme powers which the Bill confers are not needed liy the Government for its ostensible purpose, and that, not being needed, they should not be granted. Although the members of die Manufacturers' Federation approve the Bill in substance, it has not been shown that their wishes could not be met by a modification of the Bill which would also be acceptable to the general body of business interests.

It needs to be reiterated that this Bill is applicable, if the Minister should decide so to apply it, to any kind of private enterprise now being carried on in this Dominion. There appears no evidence—except the formidable evidence in the Bill itself —that the Government at present intends to do anything more than co-operate with the manufacturers in planning and regulating secondary industries, the condition of which was extravagantly described by Mr. Alluin as "chaotic." If it were in fact "chaotic," how could the manufacturers show such a record as that upon which they justifiably congratulated themselves at their recent jubilee? But the Labour Government's general aim, which is socialisation, its strong faith in the efficacy of legislative action and its willing, even eager, acceptance of proposals involving investigation into and subsequent interference with private enterprise, are so well known, that when it brings down a Bill to give itself unlimited powers of control over industry and commerce, suspicion and alarm are inevitable. It is true that former Governments have taken powers of which they did not make use, and the Board of Trade Act was mentioned yesterday as a conspicuous example. That Act was passed in war-time, and though it was not repealed when the war ended, everybody knew that the aim of the Government which passed it was not socialisation.

This Government, although it is constantlyextending the field of State activity, is depending, and must continue to depend, for a very large part of its revenue, both direct and indirect, on the profits of "private enterprise. Upon the profits—and the expectation of pl"ofits-—of' private , individuals aiM firms must depend also, to a greater;extent than the Government might like to admit, its hope of reducing, quickly and permanently, the size of the unemployment roll. By industrial and social legislation it has increased the burden, alreajly heavy, borne | by industries of every kind —which is to say that they are being operated for a considerable part of the year for the benefit of the Treasury. The incentive to initiative, energy and enterprise is reduced. If the Government now ' passes legislation of a kind which induces the suspicion that there is to be, or that there ma> be, arbitrary interference with industry by a bureaucratic body, the consequent • destruction of confidence will have much more serious and widespread effects than those so far apprehended by those who have studied the Industrial Efficiency Bill.

The Palestine Arabs' violence campaign, now nearly six weeks old, continues unabated, and any hope which existed of a peaceful approach to a solution of the problems now agitating the Holy Land seems to have vanished. The British Government, having resolved that the violence campaign must be ended by force, is concentrating five brigades in Palestine. A few months ago. a much smaller force would probably have sufficed, but, as an observer in Jerusalem has reported, the long duration of the disturbances has I "aggravated animosity into the strongest and bitterest antagonism, and. apparently nothing less than a miracle can effect an Arab-Jewish rapprochement for a long time to come." The | difficulty of the Mandatory Power is increased by the existence of strong personal rivalries among the Arab leaders, in consequence of which none dares to suggest a conference with the Jews, lest he should be accused by his rivals of treachei-y to the cause. Peace must now be restored by the British Army, but this task, although essential, is but a preliminary to the consideration by the Royal Commission of one of the most complicated problems with which British rule is faced anywhere. k /rrvTrfcr*ictc a xrrv n a nviMr"

) The amended ear-parking by-laws which came into force in Auckland to-day are considerably more restrictive than* any which the city- motorist has known. The traffic department is endeavouring to make it easy for the motorist to learn the by-law applicable to the stx*eet in which he wishes to leave his car, but it is to be expected that for a week or two there will be unintentional breaches of the new regulations. These should be passed over with a warning, for between new national traffic regulations and new city by-laws the motorist has a great deal to think of just now. Meanwhile, it should be remarked that the number of cars on the roads continues to increase, • and that in the summer motorists are likely to have difficulty in finding parking space anywhere within reasonable distance of their destination. The City Council tells motorists where they shall not go, but its responsibility cannot end there. |