WITHOUT PREJUDICE

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 179, 23 April 1924, Page 6

WITHOUT PREJUDICE

NOTES AT RANDOM

(By

T.D.H.)

Mr. Trotsky says Russia is a roliabta debtor. —You can always be sure no doubt that she will go on owing yon the money. The Child’s Guide to Knowledge. Question.—-What is the difference between a railway system owned by a private company and a nationalised railway system owned by the State ? Answer. —There is a- great difference. A private railwav is operated in the interests of the shareholders, who may even be greedy people, and though they meet the convenience of the public it is only to make profits for themselves. A nationalised railway system Is operated by the State with a. view to ameliorating the conditions of the staff and accustoming the public to put up with any necessary little inconveniences to achieve this laudable end.

Q. —Is nationalisation superior io private enterprise ? A. —ft is so superior that the. Labour Party desires the nationalisation of the entire means of production, distribution, and exchange. Q. —Why, then, does not the Government nationalise everything so that other workers can become as well off as ths railwaymen? A. —This will no doubt be done in due course, but it will first be necessary to double the number of taxpayers in order to make up the deficits which occur in nationalised industries, and the population will also require to be doubled in order to provide the hundred per cent, increase in the number of workers • needed under nationalisation to do the same work as under private enterprise. * « » Q.- —When these conditions arrive and all industries are nationalised we shall have the end of strikes and labour disputes, shall we not? A.—That is so. No strikes ever occur under nationalisation unless the public refuses to give the workers all they want. ' Q. —Why do not private enterprises give the workers all they want? A. — Because of the Bankruptcy Act. Q. —The Bankruptcy Act then does not apply to State enterprises? A. —No, not so long as the taxpayer has a shirt to his back, and a German educationist, I notice, advocates the removal of even that article of apparel as a moral reform. Q. —Y’ou think, then, sir, that we shall all be extremely happy under nationalisation? A. —Happiness, my dear young fnentf, depends mainly on making a right use of our leisure, and the happy Socialist is he who learns to make a right use of his leisure during working tours. Some State servants have made themselves very unhappy by devoting their office leisure to an imperfect study of the horse-racing intelligence. Q. —You do not think, then, that it is assured that we shall be happy al] the time under socialism ? A. —On the contrary, I see no reason at all for any real unhappiness, unless it is when the tax-collector collects our pay back again. Q. —But is it not understood that the deficits in all nationalised industries under socialism will be made up by taxing the wealthy people? A.-—That will serve for a few years, but you must remember that when all industries have been nationalised and all profits abolished there will be no more wealthy people to tax. Q.- —I had not thought of that. It certainly seems likely to be so. Do you think the Labour Party in drawing up its programme can have overlooked this point ? A. —I am not in the confidence of the Labour Party, but it may be possible they have an immigration scheme for inducing the necessary number of wealthy people to come in from abroad each year and be taxed. Q. —You think, for instance, they might abolish the licensing polls and advertise the Dominion as a health resort for American millionaires? But we are looking a long way ahead, are we not; the general public is still quite able to pay a few extra taxes to give the railwaymen most of what the ywant for some time to come, is it not? A.—That is so, and no immediate crisis need be expected provided future temptation to the railwaymen is avoided by having ther Prince of Wales keep away from the country, and the Fleet keep out of the Pacific. * * • Q. —I thank you, Sir, for your ansevers to my questions, and there is one other I would like to ask if I do not trespass too much ,on your time. I see the university studente condemn the modern Press under private enterprise. Would nationalised State newspapers be an advantage? A. —Such newspapers are, indeed, ’essential to the development of a higher life. 'Die diversity of views in the modern' Press tends to bickering and strife in the community, which would be entirely prevented by the replacement of the present newspapers by State journals all saying ihe same thing and telling the public what it is good for it to know. It is most important that the community should have full confidence in its leaders, and this cannot be attained when scurrilous journalists of no importance are free to presume to criticise the acts of public men, and belittle their reputations. •» * « Q. —You do not think Socialism is likely to break down in any way when it is tried, do you ? A.—The only danger is that it may not bo fully tried out, for I fear that the same people who want it now will be hankering' after somathing else as soon as they get it. Q. —Thank you, Sir. I feel we should look on the bright side of things. It is wonderful to reflect, il it not, that for the trifling sum of ninepence our nationalised telegraph service will transmit a telegram from Wellington to Wanganui almost as quickly as a man could ride there on a push bicycle with it, and few people, "T think, would bo willing to ride to Wanganui on a bicycle for ninepence? A.—That is so. You are right to look on the bright side of things. Compared with the exertion of carrying a message to Wanganui oneself, it should be a pleasure to give tho telegraph officers one and sixpence for doing it, and so enable them, to live on the scale of comfort to which they hope presently to become accustomedDisappointment, my young friend, has a depressing and retarding influence on the system, and even the telegraph instruments may soon be unequal to putting your message through to Wanganui as quick us a man might walk there with it. It was long ago discovered that hope deferred maketh the heart sick, but the modern view seems to be that it can make the public sicker. THEY TOLU ME, HERACLETTUS. They told rae, Heracleitus, they told ma you were dead, They brought me bitter news to hes? and bitter tears to shed. I wept, as I remembered, how often you and I Had tired the sun uith talking and send him down the sky. /Cnd now that thou art lying, my dear old Carian guest, A handful of grey ashes, long, long ago at rest, Still are Ihy pleasant voices, thy nightingales, awake; For Death, lie taketh all away, bui them he cannot take.