NO NATIONALISATION OF TRANSPORT

Greymouth Evening Star, 6 October 1948, Page 8

NO NATIONALISATION OF TRANSPORT

(P.A.) NEW PLYMOUTH, Oct. 5. Nationalisation of the transport industry was not intended, said the Minister of Transport (Mr F. Hackett) at the annual conference of the New Zealand Road Transport Alliance at New Plymouth this evening. He was replying to criticism of the Transport Law Amendment Bill expressed in the annual report and by speakers to the report. “There will always be room in our economy for private enterprise,” said the Minister. “My experience leads me to believe that we shall have private enterprise a lot longer than we thought we would have it 10 years ago. The first object of the Government is to remain in power and we are not keen to do things unless there is a chance of their being a success. We are not going round the country nationalising or socialising industries just for the sake of nationalising or socialising.” Nationalisation would be resorted to where industries had power and were using it to strangle other industries, he said. The Government had nationalised airways and banks and was nationalising mining. “What is the good of taking over the transport industry this November and going out through it next November?” he asked. “The Government has to be guided by what the people want. We have seen no signs of an organised body that is prepared to accept the responsibility of running the industry if the Government takes it over. '‘Before nationalising anything you must at least feel that the people you intend handing responsibility over to are capable of handling it