Untitled

Hokitika Guardian, 10 July 1935, Page 4

“Js State intervention desirable?” was the question which Sir Thomas D. Barlow set out to answer in one of the 8.8. C. series of broadcasts on “Free dom.” Sir Thomas concluded:—lf then I may sum up in a few words, I would say that there is not and never can he any effective substitute in life for individual freedom and .self-reliance, hut both socially and politically wo must recognise that times arc! conditions have drastically changed and that we must accept as unavoidable increased interference by the State. But such interference should be regarded not with enthusiasm but with regret and with special reluctance in relation to industrial enterprise. The State, therefore, while using, its authority to curb the effects of extreme and short-sighted .individualism and having given the initial impulse to collective action, should encourage industry to manage its own affairs. To be regimented from the cradle to the. grave in a community in which every other person is an official and in which we can do nothing until we have filled in-the appropriate form and received an official permit is not, an agreeable prospect. Tn, the ideal State what we really need is both freedom and responsibility end, we must refuse to admit that we eannot have both. Rut whether we shall or nov depends on ourselves. Wo get the kind of Governments and the kind of freedom that we deserve. , We oanncv in the ultimate resort “pass the buck,” as the Americans say, to anybody, however much we may abuse the Government or whoever it may ho. Abusing somebody or something is nothing bub a narcotic which saves us the trouble of thinking for ourselves. You and I are, or ought to be, the captains of our fate.