LABOUR POLICY

Hokitika Guardian, 7 November 1936, Page 6

LABOUR POLICY

“BOLD EXPERIMENTS.”

SOME BASED ON FALLACY. AUCKLAND, November 5. The statement that_it was the opinion of. British delegates .that some ,of New Zealand’s experimental legislation was founded on a fallacy that the seller can dictate terms to the buyer waS made by Mr J. A. Aiton, of.the Derby and Derbyshire Chambers of Commerce and a member of the executive committee of the Federated Chambers, at ,a. dinner. Air Aiton, who was the principal speaker at the function, said New Zea-' land was certainly making bold,' farreaching legislative experiments. If dictatorships had been caused ,in other countries because of a’ negative attir tilde of the Government, there was certainly no regson to fear dietatorships in this country. He humorously suggested that what had been . done here would make any dictator’s -mouth, wgter. , .

“If ]NTew, Zealand wants , to experiment in any system of legislation, it is no business of ours to comment thereK on,’ fcgid. Mr /Stan.' . ■ “But if -rfrom. •many, generations pf experience we spe that the Government is -making - v a,. ' mistake, pr what , seems to-us to Be a ■ mistake, it is not only a right', but a j duty, to tell you what we see. We do ■•see ‘tligt. some of your experiments are founded on a fallacy—the fallacy ] that the seller can dictate, terms to the buyer. He can only do that, oi course, on the rare occasions when lie has' a monopoly. Invariably the buyer, can dictate the terms and he has' the j 'final word. .He can stay -out jof the ' market if he wants to, but the seller has to come into the market.”. .1 Mr Aiton said that some months ago it was reported in an influential newspaper in London that the New Zealand- Minister of Marketing, the Hon. "W. wlieni referringc "to 7 dairy produce, ’said the .merchants ■mf I j' London would do the selling,, but they would, have to do the Selling as they' were told. There was a fallacy, naked and bald. The'buyer in London would make the terms and, unless the seller stayed out of the market, lie would •have to accept those--terms. . - . | •In finance the same rule held good. The borrower was selling credit and | the lender was dealing in that credit/ If a man wanted to borrow he had to show lie. lived a respectable life,and that he was not a gambler. He must show solvency. If there were any doubt on those matters the' lender, either, | would not make the loan or he would make the terms stiff. .When it came to loans to ■ countries the, conditions j were exactly the same. “I do not say that when you go. to London there [ would be of this country!? l solvency or its. willingness to. pay when loans came due,” “out .1 do say that any lender would have to consider whether a trend, of political ; thought in the country might lead to the introduction .of legislation,. ..that ; would .make payment more difficult.” Regarding labour, . the .conditions were the same. Labour sold its services. It could say there was . a monopoly and that the buyer must, buy according to its conditions. .The idea that• the iseller could dictate in thut way did not, however, go far enough, jlf the, cost of primary produce .was - too high because of the cost pf labour,, it could not be sold. There could be no monopoly in the selling of Jabour.if ; the goods the purchaser of such labour • would make could not be sold because of the .high price. . . . . .. “I hope you do not think, there. is. , any discourtesy, in my remarks,’!, cop-: eluded Mr Aiton. “I merely offer ,ad vice. Whether you accept or refuse it dosen’t matter to us in th.e least. .We. have done onr dutv and tli&t is all that matters to us.” *