GOVERNMENT IN BUSINESS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 6 August 1928, Page 3

GOVERNMENT IN BUSINESS

LAhOUICS bxPERIENCE

unsatisfactory service

(Nineteen Twenty-Eight Committee)

Government interference with • private business is rather a matter of policy than a matter of politics. ■ It is well to bear this fact in-mind when discussing a subject which .has .begun ,to attract a good deal cf interested attention-in,, this country. The point may be illustrated by a few-extracts from a speech delivered at • the* May Convention of the Queensland Labour Party by.Mr W, Me Cormack, the head of the present Queensland Labour Government. Mr McCormack did not talk of politics, but of the ciepiorablc failure off the Government’s excursions; into .business..; The,, service t the. State obtained at Chillogoe. was bad. lie said. He, jtnow that, becaii.se he had worked at-the mines there; and yet the Government had paid- the men engaged tjjjied firnes more than-the .private company had paid.; ..The;Government cquld not keep .nationalised enterprises going at a loss because that would mean more taxation and-an mcrease-in the cost of livings; 5 Labour : could , control industry provided; it-, gaye the social; seiyice qelessary towards that end; but the idea of gting sloiv. in order to create employment- was a bad! and a rotten one. “iritis Ofte. THINK’’ ■ Summaiising bis. experience -of State inleiference with private enterprise,- Mr MpQ6rjpack;Was quite frank. The Ga\jeriimerit, ire, told ,fhp Convention, had been Vbspliitely compelled to close down the State’s ■ business enterprises because it could not get the service necessary to render them sufficiently profitable -to justify their continuance. There was no doubt in the case of the sugar mills that “boss” rule had mined the State undertaking. At the Babinda mills tho conditions were excellent in every respect and yet the Government could hot carry on the enterprise -without incessant trouble. Men who had occasioned no worry at all to the Colonial Sugar Company were a constant hindrance and annoyance during the State’s operation of the mill. Finally the, concern was handed over to the farmers in the dis : trict, and its efficiency at once was increased by 30 per cent, and there was no longer any trouble with the men. “It makes one think and hesitate, was Mr McCormack’s reflection upon the outcome of the Government’s experiment. The discussion in which tho Queensland Prime Minister, took part was initiated by Mr Randolph Bedford, another member of the Queensland Parliament, who submitted to the convention a motion, which was ultimately carried, to the effect that the education of the people to more efficient service, both in State private enterprise, was ,a condition piecedent to the achievement of Socialism. POLICY OF DRIFT It is evident that Mr McCormack and hi<) colleagues have reached a stage in their State enterprises at which they Well may “think and hesitate., It; is not for New Zealand, however to chide them with their trading proclivities. Ihe Dominion has gone a very considerable way along the same road and has not yet mustered up courage enough to pro claim a halt. :t has drifted into competition with private enterprise lathe, than deliberately entered upon the perilous paths of trade and commerce, and has acquired a score or two business responsibilities which are altogether outside the range of legitimate State adventures. Unfortunately there is no ready means of ascertaining how much these responsibilities are costing.the taxpayers of all degrees. The Prime Mimst r S doing • his best.- to obtain, the balance sheets upon which,his, predecessor m office insisted,,-but apparently r-any heaL of departments !till manage.to evade.the requirement 3of the.situations It . be quite safe to assume, however, that nine- :enths of,- these State trading con corns are being run at a. loss and are contributing nothing to Ike comfort and welfare of the - om hamty that, could not he at least as well supplied by private enterprise.- The. Prime Minister, of Queensland, whatever Ins politics may he, has .quoted-actual, experiences which the Dominion might well consider.