STATE “PLANNING”

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 33, 2 November 1934, Page 10

STATE “PLANNING”

Trend in New Zealand Politics BUSINESS MEN’S ATTITUDE Dominion Special Service. Christchurch, November 1. Whether or not chamber of commerce members might agree individually with the new 1 “strong and growing sentiment” in favour of a more conscious and concerted planning of certain of New Zealand's national activities, he thought the members must reconsider the attitude of the chambers to these developments, said Mr. A. M. Seaman, president of the Associated Chambers of Commerce, at a dinner given to New Zealand conference delegates by the Canterbury chamber to-night. “While Government regulation of industry has been with us more or less over a long period, the question is now taking a wider sweep in the form of a general control by the State, referred to as ‘planned economy,’ ” he said. “In Russia, Italy, Germany and the United States of America we have seen, in recent years, a profound and far-reaching reorganisation of the national life, involving in some instances a complete ordering of the industrial machine, and in others a measure of control which would have been dismissed a few years ago as incompatible with private ownership. Countries other than those named are planning their development on national lines, and in this Dominion there is ample evidence of the Government’s intention to take a general control of certain fields of activity. “Hitherto the chambers of commerce have shown an uncompromising hostility to any moves of this nature, feeling. no doubt, that better national results are secured by giving a free hand to private enterprise and competition, subject to a measure of regulation in protection of the weaker parties in the community. Now, however, it seems that the national feeling on the matter is changing, and that, whether the Government’s line of action arises from its own conviction or as a concession to changing public opinion,' there is a strong and growing sentiment in favour of a more conscious and concerted planning of certain of our national activities. . . .

“If I read the signs-aright, the tide of control will continue to rise for some time —even though it may ebb again later—and a continuance of opposition on the present lines is likely to be as futile as was the command given by King Canute to the advancing waves. You may not agree with me—some. I know, will not —but I fliink that at the present juncture the chambers of commerce are likely to do the most good by seeking to guide the forces that have bedn loosed, ratiier than by continuing merelj’ to oppose. “This would involve a considerable departure from the traditional attitude of the chambers, but if. as seems inevitable, there is to be a greater measure of official control in this country, is it not essential to the welfare of the commercial community that that control should be largely exercised by experienced commercial men. rather than that they should stand by as critics of control measuies directed by bureaucrats and theorists?”