FREEDOM OF ACTION

Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 47, 24 August 1932, Page 8

FREEDOM OF ACTION

PRIVATE ENTERPRISE

TOO MUCH REGULATION

ADJUSTMENT OF COSTS

"It is evident that public control of enterprise has lamentably, failed, and the remedy lies in giving private endeavour freedom of action," stated the president of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce (Mr. J. P. Luke) in the course of an address at last night's general meeting of the' chamber.

He advocated the removal of

(1) Hampering and rpstrictive regulatory control of all descriptions giving the employer freedom to make conditions of employment satisfactorily agreeable to himself and his employees;

(2) Hampering taxation;

(3) All bylaws which increase costs without any detriment to public health;

(4) Ec-grouping of local bodies, reducing their numbers and thereby obtaining co-ordinated control at reduced cost.

These things having been accomplished,, he urged a reconstitution of our education system on the basis of recognition that, despite the contention of the educationists, the necessity to r-elate education to the vocational needs of the majority required a good primary education and the provision of facilities for the ambitious youth to attain higher levels as the results of his own endeavour. "The latter provision," he said, "will in due course create in the oncoming generation that appreciation of values which has been denied the present younger generation and enable- this land of undoubted natural advantages to emerge from its callow youth into the broadening experiences of mature nationship."

DIFFERENT STANDARDS.

Mr. Luke pointed out that there is a disparity of wage levels as between Europe and the United Kingdom of about 50 per cent., and a similar disparity as between the United Kingdom and New Zealand. Similar conditions applied as far as> Great Britain was concerned with respect to the Argentine and the East. Therefore the competition in world markets for the supply of manufactured goods bore much more hardly on the people of Great Britain than possibly on any other people. "Whether we like it or not," lie said, "we must recognise that our remuneration levels in New Zealand must more nearly approximate those of Great Britain. This being admitted there caii be only one method to pursue in order to maintain even a semblance of our present standard.

KILLED BY REGULATION.

"In Great Britain, whilst there has ,been during the past decade a tendency to introduce a greater measure of regulatory control of industry, it is becoming increasingly evident that such, measures are actually defeating the progress of industry and bringing industrial and trading conditions into a state of chaos. The energies of the British industrial and commercial world have been during the past year directed into avenues which it is hoped will eventually lead to a complete resuscitation of prosperity. As a result, measures of economy have been, applied and regulatory control methods are being continuously repealed. We in New Zealand have for a very much greater period, of time been subjected to such regulations as have not only restricted enterprise, but in many cases have definitely killed it. Contrary to the generally accepted ideas, the amount of first-class land in New Zealand is relatively limited, and the cost of keeping other lands to a high state of production has increased by reason of the necessity to resort to manurial and other methods for satisfactory cultivation. The community wholeheartedly supports the maintenance of a fully-staffed Agricultural Department, in order that primary industry can be so developed as to ensure the increased production of high-quality commodities. Is it not therefore reasonable that the rest of the community should be relieved from all restrictive legislation that is hampering commercial and industrial undertakings?

OUR'LIVING STANDARD.

"It is recognised that the remuneration level of any class in the community is undoubtedly dependent on the margin between the costs of production and the prices realised, and in the case of New Zealand the basis must necessarily be that of primary production. Tor many years past we have deliberately ignored this condition, and remuneration has been based'on what has been termed 'the cost of living.' A little reflection will show that the cost of living can only be related to some particular standard, and that our standard of life is higher than that in the United Kingdom is unquestionable. Can we maintain this higher standard? I contend that we can only do so provided we can so adjust our costs over the whole field of endeavour as will maintain a sufficient margin between costs and prices.

"Whilst it is admitted that a large proportion of the breadwinners in urban areas are engaged in pursuits directlycomplementary to primary production, it is significant that the total number engaged in farming has steadily declined since the year 1921. In that year 152,000 people were in primary production. Last year there were 142,000. Coincidental with this decrease, the actual total qualitative production has increased. Mechanisation has undoubtedly contributed to this result, and possibly to as great an extent has the influence of scientific investigation into all matters germane to the farming industry.

REDUCTION IN CITY WAGES,

. "The Dominion market for the farmer is an extensive and growing one. What is to happen if the urban population insists on maintaining its present levels of remuneration? Costs to the farmer cannot be reduced, and he in turn cannot meet the competition in ■world markets for the sale of his produce. Therefore urban remuneration must inevitably be reduced. We are all loath to revert to a lower level of comfort, and I submit the logical method is to tackle the problem from the standpoint of cutting out all those things which are the cause of increased costs. ,

"The first essential is to cultivate the right perspective. For years past we have hugged the delusion that we are to put it colloquially, 'a cut above the people who are our customers.' We are not, and never have been. Not only have we depended on Great Britain for our chief subsistence, but for all else that has made conditions here so very ploasant. We conceived the idea that we could flout the conditions pertaining to employment in other lands and set up industrial legislation with all its ramifications of control, and to-day we realise that in chasing a shadow we have missed the real substance. ' Over many years wo have urged the idea of every man endeavouring to become a master and thereby have gradually killed industrial development. It is one of the tragedies of this country that there are so many single-handed concerns which do not contribute to the building of prosperous industrial or commercial life.

"We must, if we are to become a nation, develop those qualities and institutions which are the manifestation

of a national spirit. We must encournge endeavour of every kind and provide avenues for sound development. The exploratory spirit is something which is inherent in a comparatively few in the community, and in the future, as in the past, these spirits, with their wider imaginations and their forceful persistence, must control the destinies of industrial and commercial enterprises."