STATE PENETRATION

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21580, 6 December 1944, Page 2

STATE PENETRATION

ELECTRICAL TRADE • . - - ‘ } j- »i t ~V ' j. \ f AUCKLAND CRITICISM (P.A.) AUCKLAND, Dec. 6. “The entry of the State into the business of buying and selling'electrical- appliances, which is proposed in legislation now before Parliament, is another example of the insidious manner in which State penetration into all forms of enterprise is proceeding,” said Mr. J. B. Stewart, president of th e Associated Chambers of Commerce.

“When it enters into competition with private enterprise the State starts off with capital provided by its competitors and it is supported against failure by their guarantee, ■ which is provided by taxation, to meet any deficiency. It has no regard for the rules of practice governing trade and it can vary its overhead by dispensing with or reducing such charges as taxation and local body rating.

“It will ultimately force the worst type of rationalisation, creating unemployment and the failure of rehabilitation, the stifling of competition and general deterioration in standards. “Is is not time that commerce’and industry realised that they must combine in opposition- to prevent this form of progression toward a Socialist State?”