NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 171, 15 April 1932, Page 10

NOTES OF THE DAY

Reports from Auckland, incomplete at the time of writing, show that serious rioting broke out there last evening, involving injuries to police and civilians, considerable damage to private property, and looting of goods from shops. These events, coupled with earlier menacing demonstrations in Dunedin, emphasise the immediate duty of the Government to take adequate measures to insure against their recurrence in any centre of population. Citizens and their property must be protected. Force exercised by the unruly, whether unorganised or secretly organised, must be met by marshalling the forces of law and order. The maintenance of discipline is imperative, not only in the interests of the community but also to save the disaffected from the consequences of their own violence. Their grievances can then be presented in a constitutional manner and certainly will receive such attention as their case merits and such relief as the community can afford to give. But the Government or the people of this country will not be intimidated. The origins of these riots should also be investigated. If it be found that they have been fomented by agitators and that the misfortunes of the unemployed are being exploited for purposes subversive of law and order, those responsible should be sternly dealt with. The Government should see that the agitators arc? placed where they can ho longer use their corrosive propaganda.

A good move by the Government was to bring together in conference the chairmen of the eleven Adjustment Commissions set up under the Mortgagors’ Relief Act. These commissions are given wide powers and it is important that in the exercise of them they should work to well-defined standards. It is one thing to pass legislation designed to secure certain ends but another thing to realise them in actual practice. If each commission were left to yiut its own interpretation on the law and set its own standards, all sorts of anomalies and inequalities might arise. The Government has therefore shown due regard for the uniform and fair administration of its policy by calling the chairmen of the commissions into conference with the Chief Justice and responsible members of the Ministry.

In order to avoid further cuts in Public Service salaries and wages, certain members of Parliament are reported to favour an increase in the wages tax. There are many objections to such a course. So far as Civil Servants are concerned, they would be subjected to the equivalent of a cut although it would be camouflaged under the name of taxation. It is true the cut would not be so deep, but all the rest of the community would be taxed to make' up what the Public Service escaped. Bitter resentment would probably be aroused', reacting in the end against the Public Service. This feeling would be aggravated if. despite the reprieve gained by the Civil Service, workers outside it suffered wage reductions-afid had to carry the extra wage tax as well. Other objections could be cited but the chief is that the objective of reducing costs would be missed. Actually the dead “overhead” of taxation would be“increased, an effect opposite to what is supposed to be the end of all the country’s efforts.

New Zealanders are apt to bridle when they are in formed that their country is one of the most socialistic in the world. Socialism has never been adopted as a political doctrine. On the contrary citizens have preferred to regard themselves as self-reliant individualists. Yet, as Mr. H. M. Campbell pointed out in the House, the Dominion is far gone in Socialism. If anyone doubts it, let him examine a list of State departments or reflect on many of the undertakings of local bodies. He cannot be mistaken as to the answer. 'Phis curious result has been an insidious growth arising out of the efforts of political parties, for two generations past, to outrival their opponents in bids for popular favour without much reference to the political principles involved. This neglect of theory has led New Zealand unawares far into .the practice of Socialism, although she has always rejected the principle. The trend has been hastened by our tendency to look to the State in every difficulty, another denial in fact of self-reliance and individualism. Mr. Campbell has shown us the result, an over-burdened State staggering under a growing load and forced to lean too heavily on such free institutions as still survive progressive socialisation.