CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 254, 24 September 1935, Page 6

CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE.

VARYING POINTS OF VIEW. STATE INTERFERENCE. WANGANUI, Sept. 24. “A Chamber of Commerce can play a very useful part, both locally and nationally, ” said Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates in an address to the Chamber of Commerce last night. “On public questions the views of business men are often sought, and it is here that business men in general, and the Chamber of Commerce in particular, have a high responsibility. There are two types of views that one can legitimately expect from a Chamber of Commerce. The first is the interested point of view of business men as such. In this case, the views are expressed solely as they affect the. interests of the particular class concerned. The second is the national interest. Hero the interests of business men as such are put in the background and the question under discussion is reviewed from a national standpoint. “It can easily be seen that these two points of view may at times conflict. What I wish to stress is this: When expressing a considered opinion, a Chamber of Commerce should definitely state whether it is looking at the question from the interested business men’s viewpoint, or the national viewpoint. The Chamber of Commerce is quite entitled to express its own point of view, but it should be careful to state that it is the business men’s point of view.

STATE AND BUSINESS.

“It will be clear that every. Government has a duty to all interested parties to hear them, but it should not necessarily act in the interests of one group. The Government must keep a view of what is right and what is wrong. I say that a Government cannot call itself a Government unless it takes a clear and unbiassed view of all matters that come before it,” Mr Coates proceeded. “There is perhaps one other point I should mention. I refer to the phrase, ‘Government interference in business.’ I would appreciate it very much if someone would give an exact defintion of Government ‘interference.’ No Government wants to ‘interfere.’ I might illustrate the point better with some exampies from recent years. After the Napier earthquake the Government were asked to step in and rehabilitate business men. The result is that the Government becomes a mortgagee. The butter situation becomes critical and the farmers’ conference and the Dairy Board approach the Government and place the difficulty in their hands, asking for_ a solution. The result is the reconstitution of the Dairy Board and the Agriculture (Emergency Powers) Act. Complaints are received by the Government that certain bond-issuing companies are not acting in the public interest. The result is the legislation dealing with bond-issuing companies. “L could multiply instances; but I have said sufficient to show the type of legislation and Government action wliicn is described by the unthinking as ‘interference in business.’ ”