The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 1937. "CHAOS" AND CONTROL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 100, 29 April 1937, Page 6

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

THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 1937. "CHAOS" AND CONTROL.

, For the cause that lacks assistance, I For the wrong that needs resistance, I For the future in the distance, I Jnd the good thui we cap do, 1

It is now taken fur granted that if the Government orders an investigation of the condition of any industry the outcome will be a recommendation that that industry lie brought under some form of State control. The Government's thoughts run often to "control" as the solution of economic problems, and the committees of investigation which the Government appoints do not find themselves disagreeing with it. This week we have had the report of a committee which inquired into the taxi and town-carrier hnsincssess. Both, we have learned, are in a very bad state, and they should be brought under the Transport Act, and so licensed and controlled. The Minister of Transport, reading the report, thoroughly agreed witl. its recommendations, and next session he will uive legislative effect to them. To-day it is the fruit and vegetable business, the condition of which, according to the committee, is "chaotic" in every phase. It is "disorganised," there is "a complete lack of any intelligent system of orderly marketing," of "sensible organisation." Therefore, there must be "fairly drastic reforms," which may be summed up in the one word "control." "flie Minister concerned is expected to announce his agreement immediately. The findings and recommendations of these investigating committees are too suspiciously similar. Their findings may be substantially accurate —although the description of conditions in the fruit industry as "chaotic" is a misuse of the word—but why does it follow that the remedy must be State control ? In the Dominion's experience, is State control always beneficial to the public in whose name it is assumed and exercised? Had the Dominion, at the time of the advent of this Government, reached the stage in its economic history when private enterprise was deemed to have outlived its usefulness, so that it must be superseded as quickly as possible by State control, from which there is only one step to State ownership? Judging by the reports of its investigating committees, and its agreement with them, the Government answers the last question in the affirmative. It remains to be seen whether the majority of the people agree with it. Meanwhile, any industry which the Government decides to investigate should know what is in store for it. The Fruit Committee found that the growers are not being paid enough, the wholesalers and retailers are not individually making excessive profits, but the public has to pay too much. With the la£t conclusion the public agrees; in faet, the inquiry had no other justification than the public discontent with the price of fruit. The explanation, I according to the committee, largely lies in the jfact that there is "too much subdivision of I the retail trade," and that individual turnovers are too small to allow fruit to be retailed at a reasonably low margin of profit in view of the high rents and wages and other charges payable in respect of each shop. There are |1075 fruit shops in the four cities, including 306 in Auckland and 350 in Wellington. The committee conjectures that "if it were possible to reduce the number of retailers by, say, 25 per cent.," thex-e would be a saving in overhead ! expenses of over £100,000 a year in the four centres alone. (There would also be more | than 250 retailers and some employees out of work.) It recommends, in effect, that the reduction be accomplished gradually; all retailers and retailers' premises should be licensed annually, and when a license lapses or is cancelled it need not be issued to anyone else. This painless extinction would probably be slow, but it might be hastened if effect is given to another proposal, that the maximum retail profit be fixed, and that sales at higher rates be punished by cancellation of licenses. These proposals fully merit the committee's description of them as "fairly drastic," although they have approximate precedents in the bus and service-car control systems, and ,in Auckland's milk control, all introduced by jthe last Government. If the committee is right in concluding that the "explanation of the i riddle" of high fruit prices is simply that there are too many fruit retailers, and if a 'system of licensing would bring prices down, then the public may accept, or even demand, such a system. But whait is to become of the displaced retailers in this business, or any other business which the Government may ;decide to investigate and control? And if the main solution does lie in retail control, whence ! comes the need for the elaborate State 'organisation envisaged by the committee, with i a "Director of Fruit Marketing" and district ! marketing authorities to regulate (or even .restrict) production, and supervise the product (from the tree into the retailer's paper bag? jWhy should it be assumed that the industry .cannot or will not do these things for itself? ISuch an assumption arises in the minds of [those who see "State control," not as a means 'justifiable in some circumstances, but as .sn jend, desirable in itself.