BUSINESS AND POLITICS

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 80, 15 October 1928, Page 8

BUSINESS AND POLITICS

.» One of the reasons why remits did not become legislation, said Sir Francis Bell to the Chambers of Commerce, was that business men would not enter Parliament. The only contact between commerce and the country was by means of the lawyers. There is much truth in Sir Francis Bell's statement. Business men are freely critical of the Legislature; but they are seldom willing to step in and help with the work. When taxed with this they have usually a stock answer: '' We have our businesses to attend to. Besides, any man who goes into politics has so much misrepresentation and personal abuse to face." Neither excuse is valid. We have no leisured class in New Zealand—no cultured, hereditary legislators, specially trained for the task of government. In the absence of such a class we must,accept as legislators those who have business of their own to attend to, or those who have not. Between the two as a general rule the choice lies with the man who has been successful in his own affairs. The business man's excuse (that he has his own business) implies that h' prefers to leave the im portant work of government to those who have none. The objection to abuse, misrepresentation, and so on is equally poor as an excuse. If politics show any tendency in this direction it is no use sitting by and saying: "We will have nothing to do with them." The business men should get in and set a higher standard. Actually, however. New Zealand politics are not, on a low level in this respect. Parliament itself maintains a high tone, and we have not yet experienced what could bo regarded as a "dirty" election. The abuse and vilification common in American politics and even in English politics of Georgian days are not ofton in evidence here.