Greymouth Evening Star. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1948. What Mr Hackett Said

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 October 1948, Page 4

Greymouth Evening Star. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1948. What Mr Hackett Said

ALTHOUGH in one respect the Minister of Transport, Mr Hackett, was refreshingly frank in his address to the N&w Zealand Road Transport Alliance at New Plymouth, he merely confirmed what everybody knows —or should know. New Zealand, he said in effect, has had private enterprise. a lot longer than the Socialists thought the country would have it 10 years ago. In other words, if it had not been for a certain happening over which the Government had no control, the economy ol this country would by now have been completely strapped in the Socialist straitjacket. - It is understandable, of course, that, with their majority so small, there is a strong natural tendency ■ for Government leaders to use honeyed words to woo the electors or lull them into a false sense of security. The one deterrent to the completion of the'socialisation of this country has been the loss of electoral support. Mr Hackett has made that clear; he should be thanked for it. “The first object of the Government,” he says, “is to remain in power. . . . What is the good of taking over the transport industry this November and going out through it next November (election month)?” If words have any moaning, Mr Hackett said, in effect, that what “we” (the Socialists) dreamed of and planned 10 years ago, “we” would be happy 1o do now, if “we” could be sure that by so doing “we” would win the election. But, of course, if at the election “we” should increase our narrow’ majority a little (the Maoris are, after all, a little .unreliable politically), then, naturally, “we” would take the electors’ verdict as a direction to go full speed ahead on the road to Socialism. “We” would be entitled to assume that prior to the election “w’e” misread their wishes and that, after all, it was unnecessary to assure them that “we” did not intend socialising this or that Of course, it would not matter that “we” had clearly misrepresented “our’’.policy to them. Marx and Lenin taught “us” that there is no morality in politics, only expediency. What Really Matters

What really matters is not so much what the Government has done, but what it is prepared to do. It is obvious from Mr Hackett’s speech that it is prepared to impose complete Socialism in this country and that only dwindling electoral support has so far stayed its hand. Mr Hackett’s assurances are weak. The Government’s policy on transport, as on many other aspects of national life, has already been defined for it. The Transport Federation and the Federation of Labour have decided that transport must be nationalised, and what these bodies say today becomes an accomplished fact tomorrow. The Government, even if it really

wanted to, dare not say “nay.” Mr Hackett may say that “there will always be room for private enterprise.” presumably referring particularly to the transport industry, but he has certainly not left much room on his new Transport Council for private operators. On this council of 14 there are to be six depaitmenfal officers, five union representatives, and one representative each of local bodies, shipping interests, and motor transport. His actions, it would seem, tend to cast doubt on his utterances, particularly when it is remembered that the whole transport industry—in which capital totalling £350,000,000 is invested—is to be placed under the control mainly of State servants and union officials.

The Minister of Labour, Mr McLagan, assured the Federation of Labour conference that the Government’s objective is Socialism. Mr Hackett has done much io clarify Mr McLagan’s brief statement. As Ministers of the Crown they have confirmed what many another member of the Government party has said—especially more youthful members. These are the men to whom the people must look for the shape of things, to come —not to a few ageing leaders, who are a rapidly declining political force. The one domestic issue of •importance facing the country is: Socialism or no Socialism. That is clear, despite, the soothing utterances of the Ilaeketts.