STATE-OWNED SHIPS. POLITICS IN BUSINESS.

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 52, 30 August 1945, Page 8

STATE-OWNED SHIPS. POLITICS IN BUSINESS.

When a Government departs from its proper fields of activity, and sees possibilities of competing in trade and commerce with existing business enterprises, there is hardly any limit to the price that will be paid for a Socialist adventure. A classic experiment of the kind was the Government-owned Commonwealth Shipping Line in Australia. It was established in 1916—in the middle of World War I—and flourished for a few years under favourable circumstances. After 1921 the line steadily lost money, and the Government reorganised the business under the control of the Commonwealth Shipping Board. Although the capital was written down by £8,000,000, the line continued to lose half a million a year. This could not go on for ever, so eventually the ships were sold. The ultimate loss to Australian taxpayers was £8,124,549.

A significant factor in this experiment in State Socialism was the attitude of the work3i*s concerned. A report published at the time said: "Their employer was not the execrated capitalist, but the nation at large; they enjoyed the best conditions in the world. Yet with singular perversity they have waged against the line a ruthless vendetta. The line has a doleful record of strikes, pinpricks, efforts at job control, and general indiscipline. Tlie losses that have been incurred have been caused in some part by the periodical hold-ups." There is the story of a Socialist experiment in the control of one sector "of the means of production, distribution, and exchange." State ownership and control is no guarantee of efficiency or of improved service to the community. It lacks the spirit of initiative, "drive," sagacity, and service that is characteristic of free enterprise. Political considerations do not blend with business management. In spite of the lessons of experience, our Socialist-minded Government is determined to take over the Bank of New Zealand and the internal air services. Who are likely to benefit? Again it will be the public that pays. P.B.A.