“ALONG FASCIST LISES”

Evening Star, Issue 22687, 29 June 1937, Page 7

“ALONG FASCIST LISES”

NEW ZEALAND GOVERNMENT’S METHODS BETTER SYSTEM THAN COMMUNISM “ I have seen Fascism in Italy. Nazism in Germany, and Communism in Russia, and it appears to me that tho New Zealand Government is working more ■ along Fascist lines,”* said Mr D. Garsden Fowler, a representative of an English firm who is travelling in New Zealand, to a ‘ Press ’ reporter yesterday. He. said that people applied the terms Socialist and Communist to the Government, but it appeared to him that-it had rather the characteristic of Fascism. “ For one thing the Government is intensely loyal, as no Communist Government could be,” he said. “It is thoroughly nationalistic in its policy, and wishes to exploit all private enterprise for the State. I challenge any member of tho Government to tell me what is the difference between. Fascism and ' the Labour Party—except that there is no .dictator;, New Zealanders would not stand for that.” Mr Fowler added, however, that he considered Fascism a much better system than Communism. His impression of New Zealand, however, was that there was a great deal of uncertainty for the manufacturer and more'so for the farmer. It seemed in some cases that the taxes on farmers were 50 high that they were running their farms for the State. IMPRESSIONS OF AUSTRALIA. In Australia, where he has spent the last six months, be found that any difficulties in New Zealand were seized upon and “ blasted all over tho country.” Australians said that New Zealand was the most highly-taxed country in the world, but he considered' that Australian taxes, if all forms of taxation were considered, were higher than those in New Zealand. Jf anyone started any industry there was immediately a protective tariff, so that there was no competition. Prices went up, and manufacturers took advantage of the situation to lower the quality of tho goods and exploit the public. Factors which made the cost of living higher included such payments as the 5s horsepower tax on motor ears, and the extra charge to subscribers of Id for each telephone call. Yet Australians took every opportunity to criticise New Zealand, taking such examples as the recent high price of oranges to show the cost of living. However, he thought that trade revival w r as going ahead faster in Australia than in New Zealand. In Sydney he found expansion of factories and buildings going up on all sides, although the tariffs were probably responsible. Sydney was becoming a small edition of New York, although Melbourne did not seem to be going ahead in the same way.

Mr Fowler, who is a New Zealander, went to Russia in 1931 to give instruction in running the butter industry in tho Ukraine. He found conditions there in a very unsatisfactory state, food very difficult to obtain except by tourists with foreign currency, and a general suppression of all freedom of speech. Ho said that conditions might .have improved since then, but he found that people seemed much freer under Fascist rule in Italy.