The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1939. IMPORTERS AND POLITICS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 34, 10 February 1939, Page 6

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

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1939. IMPORTERS AND POLITICS.

.For t7ie cause 'that lacks assistance, ,For the immfl that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

In its formidable indictment of the import control system, published yesterday, the importers' national committee has gone deep into the field of political controversy. In the committee's • view, the controls imposed by the Government were not necessitated by a s,udden .emergency arising; from causes beyond the Government's influence, but by an .emergency which was foreseen as inevitable, which developed steadily and .comparatively slowly, and which could have been averted. There is substantial support for tin's view, and the importers' committee no doubt felt that it was futile to attack the import regulations without attacking the' policy which made them —or some other drastic action— .unavoidable. But the policy, it is well to remember, was approved by a majorny of the people as recently as last October. The people may not, probably they did not, appreciate the implications of the policy, but there can be no doubt that they approved its first fruits. Moreover, the policy is still popular. Its first fruits are still on the .market, though the second crop, with a bitter taste, has made its appearance. It ds of the essence of the importers' case that though they have been forced to oat a full meal of the second crop, it will not be long before no other will be available for all. The'importers may be wholly right in this view, but it would be futile to pretend that the majority of the people agree with them. Kothing but the event would convince them. The Katic-nul party, which is, so to speak, in the business 'of political controversy, decided yesterday to request the Government to summon Parliament, in order to consider "the present national and economic crisis, and of applying lawful remedies thereto." The .party has every right to make the request, but it can' be ' no more . than & gesture, to which a Government so recently .elected with an .overwhelming majority- will need to respond. Every member on the Government's side supported the Government's general policj-, and must stand or jail by it, so ,that all the talking the Opposition might do against the policy could ho-ve no effect in Parliament. The | public is fully aware of this, and nothing would irritate it more than the spectacle of a Parliament prematurely summoned and expensively engaged' in a mud-throwing contest, .the end of ivhich would be certain j ibefor.e it started.' The National party is in the favourable position of having warned the public of its fears.' If those fears were : well founded they will be supported by ; events that will speak louder than words. . j