The Evening Star THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1937. CAPITAL AND INDUSTRY.

Evening Star, Issue 22797, 4 November 1937, Page 10

The Evening Star THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1937. CAPITAL AND INDUSTRY.

At the annual conference of the Associated Chambers of Commerce, held at Timaru yesterday, Mr M. G. C. M'Caul, in his presidential address, gave a philosophical disquisition on political and economic trends in New Zealand. He actually had the temerity to put in a word for the down-trodden capitalist, whom a section of Labour regards as Public Enemy No. 1, “ The modern capitalist,” he said, “ is the reservoir that feeds and irrigates the fields of industry. He is a blessing, and should be regarded as such.” This small Dominion is one of the most prosperous States in the world. In a little more than fifty years it has fought its way from poverty to plenty. Such a happy condition is the result of the concentrated efforts of the leaders of commerce and industry—men of courage, initiative, and resource, endowed with special gifts. Most of them started from scratch. They built up enterprises that are the basis of our prosperity to-day, and in the process have provided comfortable livings for many thousands of workers. With the passing of the years successive Governments have enacted laws providing fair wages and conditions for them. That is not enough in the eyes of militant Labour. Its aim is the control by the State of all industry ; in effect, a march to the totalitarian State, of which we have examples in Germany, Italy, llussia, and elsewhere, and the gradual repression of individual liberty. Under the present system, as Mr M'Caul points out, every pound of capital efficiently directed to channels of industry gives employment, and to enable a shilling to be distributed in profit many pounds must be handed out in wages. Private enterprise is the backbone of a country’s prosperity, yet as indicated by Mr M'Caul the activities of the industrial loaders are being thwarted by a plague of new regula-

tionsj plans, quotas, licenses, and other official schemes for discouraging private enterprise. There is no royal road to prosperity. The history of many Labour Governments, Federal and State, in Australia has proved that to be true. During the last thirty od(J years, with the return of Labour Administrations, the millennium was declared to be round the corner, but after many ill-starred State trading ventures and various legislative experiments the position in the Commonwealth is much the same as in other British communities. The avowed policy of New Zealand’s Government is in the direction of Socialism, but as Mr Coates said the other day, its regulation of industry is more Fascist than Socialistic in character. Crushing taxation with a steadily-mounting cost of living is among the most obvious developments of the Labour legislation in this country. There is one point in Mr M'Caul’s admirable address that is open to criticism. It is a suggestion that in certain industries a three-shift system should be introduced to speed up production and to provide additional employment. That might answer if there were unlimited opportunities for the absorption of the products of our secondary industries. Unfortunately with our small population saturation point would soon be reached, and the result would be disorganisation of the markets. Mr M'Caul’s conclusion in regard to the future is that if the present trend continues it will lead to “ Socialism and its natural corollary, a dictatorship.”