The Dominion. MONDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1944. THE LACK OF CANDOUR

Dominion, Volume 38, Issue 6, 2 October 1944, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1944. THE LACK OF CANDOUR

In the Public Works Statement last year it was stated that “the successful development of the linen-flax industry in New Zealand has been continued and additional facilities have been provided as required.” Since then members on the Government benches, who have facilities for getting information not available to others, have spoken of what was to be “a permanent industry,” with “welcome additions to the income of the farmer,” and there has been a. ministerial assertion that it was intended to increase the production of linen fibre. In August, 1943, the member for Temuka bluntly asked the Minister of Industries and Commerce “whether England needed our linen flax as badly as she did a year ago,” and was informed that Britain “has not asked* for an increase beyond the existing factory | production.” Last week, under pressure from the Opposition' during consideration of the estimates, the Minister had to admit that the linenflax industry faced a crisis. He did not put it in that way, being content to state that “the prospects are not as bright as we would like them to be,” but the real position can be seen. However, the ultimate fate of this wartime development is by no means the most important aspect. If the supplies made available served to meet a need of the United Kingdom when it was urgent, then they were justified, but when the position changed—and obviously that has not been a matter of the last month or two —the public and especially those who have been encouraged to embark on the industry were told nothing at all. It remained for this discussion to drag the information out of the Minister.

This is just another instance of a strange, but most marked, reluctance on the part of the Government to take the community, and particularly that section directly affected—in this instance, the growers —into its confidence. Information is obtained only under pressure. There is a growing list of public matters about which it is felt that full information has not been disclosed, as, for instance the soldiers’ votes overseas, the developments in the Turakina tunnels, and the dealings in motor-vehicles. These things are relegated to parliamentary committees, or what are virtually departmental bodies from whose meetings the public and the Press are rigidly excluded, and while this procedure obtains there inevitably must be a growing feeling in the public mind that information of general concern is being withheld. The Government, exercising the extensive powers delegated to it because of the war, seems to have forgotten the fact that they have been only delegated—that Ministers are, or should be, acting for the people as a whole. It is more important than ever that the Government of the day should, as the British Government has done, place its proposals fully and clearly before the people, make public more information than has ever been available before regarding national finance. These things create confidence, based on knowledge of the facts. They have made the people of the Mother Country feel that they are working with, and not merely for, the Government of the land. They know that the only reservations made by their leaders are due to high considerations of national safety and to deny information to the enemy. It is the absence of . any effort on the part of our Government to establish those conditions, the feeling that it regards itself as being the sole seat and .source.of authority, and particularly its reluctance to give information which Parliament and people are entitled to that have caused resentment. A self-governing people, with a right to know, will not be content with whatever driblets of information any Government chooses to disclose regarding public affairs.