SOCIALISM

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 100, 2 May 1929, Page 15

SOCIALISM

BOARD OF TRADE ACT

"GRAVE REFLECTION"

ECONOMIST'S VIEWS

Tho statement that some of the greatest socialistic legislation ever perpetrated had been placed on the Statute Book by the Reform Government was made by Professor B. £. Murphy, Professor of Economics, at the annual meeting of the Economic Society last night. He referred to the Board of Trade Act, 1919, which, he said, was a grave reflection on the intelligence and capacity of the New Zealand legislators. Section 26 read:— The Governor-General in Council may, on the recommendation of the Board of Trade, make, by regulations under this Act, such provisions as he deems necessary in the public interest in the following purposes: (a) For the prevention or suppression of methods of competition, trading, or business which are considered to be unfair or prejudicial to tho industries of New Zealand or to the public welfare; (b) for the prevention or suppression of monopolies and combinations in or in relation to any industry which are considered to !.>e prejudicial to that or any other industry in New Zealand or to tho public welfare; (c) for the establishment of fixed or maximum or minimum prices or rates for any ctasscs nf goods or services, or otherwise for tho regulation or control of such prices or. rates; (d) for the prohibition, regulation, or control of differential prices or rates for goods or services, or the differential treatment of different persons or classes of persons in respect of goods or services in cases where the existence of such differential prices, rates, or treatment is considered prejudicial to any industry in New Zealand or to the public welfare; (c) for the regulation and control of industries in any other manner whatever which is deemed necessary for the maintenance and prosperity of those industries and the economic welfare of New Zealand. "It is also a reflection on tho people of New Zealand that this act has been allowed to stay on the Statute Book for ton years," said tho professor. "If by chance a Communist or a Socialist party held the balance of power in Now Zealand for a few months it could put into operation the whole of its platform. It would not have to initiate legislation; all it would have to do would bo to follow a policy Tuillowcd by Conservative tradition."