BOARD OF TRADE ACT

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 240, 11 July 1928, Page 18

BOARD OF TRADE ACT

NEED FOR REVISION A TASK FOR PRESENT PARLIAMENT (■Contributed by the 1928 Committee.] It has been suggested that.the removal from the Board ot Trade Act of its. dla s tic clauses empowering the Minister ot Industries and Commerce to do just as. he pleases with an industry or commercial undertaking that comes under his notice, would open the way to the greedy profiteer and the soulless trust to work then wicked way as they pleased upon a hapless country. But for the retention of every clause and every line of this Act as it was framed’ in war-time, the public is asked to believe, New Zealand would become the happy hunting ground of every ruthless highwayman of trade and commerce, and a stranger to all mutual confidence and honest deffijns. Extiavagant assumptions of this kind can serve no useful purpose, unless it is to show to what lengths prejudiced and uninformed people can go in denouncing a proposal they have not taken the trouble to understand. , __ . 1 Parliament’s Efficiency.

That the Board of Trade Act contains useful clauses, adapted to existing circumstances, no one denies. £o quote cases in. which it has been administered to the advantage of the public, however, is not to justify the retention of clauses which, however desirable they may have been when the fate of the Empire seemed to be hanging in the balance, are not in harmony with the conditions and needs of these happier days. The greedy proiiteer and the soulless trust still have to be kept at arm’s length; but this is a comparatively easy task, and Parliament may be trusted to see that it is effectively performed. Parliament, under the guidance of the Minister, also may be trusted to take such steps as may be necessary to free the community from the menace ot bureaucratic rule, which has been more or less in evidence since the beginning of the war down to hte present time.

’Revising the Act. Happily a beginning could be made with the revision and curtailment of the Board of Trade Act during’the present session of Parliament reflections upon any of the political parties. The original Act was framed and introduced and passed by the National Cabinet. The Reformers were no more responsible for its passage than were the. Liberals and their Labour allies. The meastiu) was declared to .be necessary in the interests of'the Dominion and the Empire, and the public acquiesced in its passage as readily as did the politicians. The present Government is notijresponsible even for the Amending Bill of 1923, which was passed, as the Minister of Industries and Commerce explained at the time, for the purpose of substituting an inexpensive Minister for an expensive board. This step was taken by a previous Government, which doubtless acted with the very best intentions, and may be left to bear its own responsibilities. The point at issue just now is the revision of the Statute. This is the job of the present Government.