"THIN END OF WEDGE"

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23318, 2 May 1941, Page 8

"THIN END OF WEDGE"

Licensing Footwear Industry The fear, that the Government would eventually 5 license all industry was expressed by Mr H. S. Williams at the meeting of the council of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce last evening. -Mr Williams said that the licensing of the boot industry was carried out in spite of a good deal of opposition within the industry. “When,the Minister said that the boot industry had asked for licensing, he spoke only half the truth,”' said Mr Williams, “One or two 'Labour supporters among the manufacturers asked for licensing; but quite a number of the others were opposed to It. A vote was taken on ah employee, basis, : but we have no knowledge Of How the voting/went. I regard it as a very serious thing, 1 It is only the thin' end of the wedge,’because it means that all industry will be-licensed eventually.” - Mr T. N. Gibbs: Who did the voting? The employer or the employees? Mr Williams: The employer voted on a basis of . the number of his employees. The president (Mr W. S. Mac Gibbon): Has the voting .been disclosed? Mr Williams: That I don't know. It was not disclosed at the time the industry vSras notified that it had been licensed.Mr A. M. Hollander said that a preponderance of those in the industry were in favour of .licensing when the vote was taken. ■ Mr Williams: Then perhaps Mr Hollander can tell us why there was no announcement of, the voting, Mr Hollander: Because it was a secret vote. The result was made known to the Industry. Manufacturers should take notice of what had happened, said Mr Williams, otherwise they might be sorry later on. , ' A lot of people were sitting on the fence waiting to see whether licensing was going to be good from their point of view or not, said Mr S, 0. Dillon. , „ "I think that retailers should also / take notice,” said Mr Williams, “because ! think' that the Government is not going to be satisfied with licensing industry, but will also control ' prices. Licensing may. easily lead to monopoly, it is merely a part of the Government’s socialisation." ' . . / Mr A. A. G. Reed said he hoped that mein" bers of the chamber had noted the statement of the Minister for Finance,' the Hon. W. Nash, to the Labour Party conference, when he announced with some glee that he had the country tied up and that no new company could be formed without permission of the Government.