The Dominion. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1937. THE SANCTITY OF CONTRACTS

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 72, 18 December 1937, Page 8

The Dominion. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1937. THE SANCTITY OF CONTRACTS

In South America they have a phrase of their own which in effect sets out that “the word of an Englishman” is there considered, to be the highest standard of personal honesty and business integrity. Britain’s reputation the world over has been built up on the ethical principle observed in the past that the word is as good as. the bond. Mr. Justice Ostler took it for the text of a timely and inspiring address to the boys of Scots College at the annual prize-giving on Thursday evening. It is timely because in recent years there has been a regrettable tendency in this country, a tendency that has had official encouragement, to regard contracts as undertakings which may be lightly repudiated. This, his Honour remarks, inculcates a form of dishonesty fatal to success in life. “There seems,” he said, “to be a new school of thought in this country which has actually had Acts passed by Parliament in support of the doctrine that it is not morally wrong to evade irksome contracts.” During the economic stresses of the Great War and of the depression which followed the post-war boom contracts were varied in some cases, or cancelled in others, to avert more serious consequences than the impoverishment of individuals or the ruin of business enterprises. It was considered that a wave of insolvencies would react to the serious detriment of the general community, and measures were taken to “cushion” those affected by untoward circumstances against their effects. These were temporary expedients, but like a great many other evils which take tenacious root in a community before their full seriousness is recognised, they have been allowed to creep insidiously into our normal routine. It should be part of the process of our political regeneration, signs of which are now happily evident in the increased interest of New Zealand people in the actions of the Government and the growing recognition of the need for a return to a sounder policy, to restore the sanctity and prestige of contracts. Laxity in this respect is to be seen everywhere around us. Even the marriage contract, and the obligations it involves, is regarded as something to be broken as soon as the ties become irksome. One of the factors that helped to put the present Government in power was its solemn election pledge to reduce taxation. That was a contract with the New Zealand people. It has not yet been honoured, and there is no indication that it ever will. The Government’s fair rents legislation has given defaulting tenants an easy way out of their obligations. The whole of the trading community is harassed by the problem of debt-collecting. • Undischarged obligations, or obligations partly discharged and then evaded because they have become irksome, result in a loss to business the effects of which are felt by the whole community. These are "but a few instances bearing witness to what is a decadent tendency in our standards of honesty in the conduct of outaffairs. The indulgence shown to those who exploit the sympathy evoked by the “hard luck story” has had an enervating effect which, for example, is reflected in the widespread fraud practised in dishonest claims -for sustenance payments. It is one of the legacies of the war and of the slump. The whole moral fibre of the community, in fact, has been relaxed. The results are seen in the tendencies referred to by Mr. Justice Ostler, in the revelations of the committee which investigated the incidence of abortion, and in a general softening of the moral fibre of the community in business, political, and social life. If we are to recover our moral vitality as a nation there must be a revival of respect for the sanctity of our obligations and responsibilities as citizens.