THE PEOPLE PROVIDE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21801, 25 August 1945, Page 8

THE PEOPLE PROVIDE

STATE IS SERVANT, NOT MASTER Again and again statements have been made that the acquisition of the Bank of New Zealand by the State will be * giving the bank to the people." This is a delusion. When the Bank becomes a State institution, the ordinary man and woman will not “own” it or “direct” it to any greater extent than now. Mr. Nash himself has said —in order to put a favourable gloss on the purchase—that the Bank will continue to be conducted as it is now. There is a lot of loose talk 'and thinking about State enterprises “belonging” to the people. The Socialiscrs talk that way when they wish to acquire anything, but afterwards the State takes up a possessive and dictatorial attitude. The State then tells the people what to do and what to pay. The State likes to spread the impression that it “gives” the people generous pensions, that it “gives” the people subsidies on clothes and butter and coal, that it “gives” our children free milk. “See how wonderful and powerful we are!” the State would like to exclaim. But all the money the State handles —all the pensions and subsidies and social services it dispenses—all the power it possesses—come from the people. The people themselves pay in direct taxes and indirect taxes, and in increased charges hidden in the cost of living. The more money that is issued, the less the value of all money, and the fewer the goods each pound-note will buy. The result is slavery to the State. The question that citizens should constantly ask is this: Should the State be the seivant of, or the master of, the people?—P.B.A.