"MARCH TOWARDS SOCIALISM"

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 281, 27 November 1941, Page 6

"MARCH TOWARDS SOCIALISM"

"Liberal" protests against the idea of continuing import control after the war. Neither he nor 1, nor the Government, can foresee the conditions that will face us when the fighting stops, but he will, I think, agree that for a time there will be great shortages of goods of nearlv all the kinds that New Zealand "is accustomed to import. He will also agree that some goods will be urgently needed in New Zealand, and some others will be less urgently needed. The Dominion's sterling and dollar funds, available for the purchase of imports, will be Limited. Somehow they will be allocated. Who should allocate them? The Government, which is informed of the needs of the community as a whole, should know which kinds of imports are needed most, and first Private traders will tend to import the kinds of goods that are certain to sell, which are not necessarily the kinds that the community needs most. Both systems have advantages, and disadvantages; neither is perfect. It seems to me foolish to denounce, without modification, Government "control." Some sections who so denounce it are quite ready to beg for it when it suits their own interests. And if "Liberal" really wants a "free flow of international trade," he should face the fact that it would involve the abolition of our protective tariff. He had better explain to the manufacturers and their employees just what that would mean to them. 1941 LIBERAL.