A VISITOR ON NEW ZEALAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14926, 26 February 1912, Page 4

A VISITOR ON NEW ZEALAND.

Sir,—As a visitor to New Zealand, I have not only been pleased with the beauty of its scenery and climatic advantages, but also interested in its political and social conditions- . •On every hand I notice the intrusion of the Government into spheres of commercial and industrial life, which are ordinarily left to private, enterprise. Novel political and economic experiments appear to have been entered into, with the hope of removing, or at least mitigating tho abuses which arc supposed to create industrial ills, and social inequalities. Some of these measures may • have been beneficial, but-, judging bv the bitterness of feeling and unrest now existing, it i« to be feared the Labour legislation, from which so much good was expected, has failed to be the panacea for industrial strifo honed , for by its promoters. If. however, the policy i and legislation now indulged in should prove j to be a failure, the people of New Zealand may flatter themselves that, prompted by a truly altruistic spirit, they were prepared to j suffer, in order that other countries may 1 avoid the mistakes they so lighthetirtedlv ] entered into.^ A bonnio country, no doubt, but what 5 anomalies exist therein. With a charming j climate and beautiful surroundings lunacy ; ought not to abound, but it appears the per- c cent-age of lunatics to the population is about } th 3 highest in the world. Possessed of great 'J resources, only requiring capital and enter- , prise for their development, one finds a. mania * upon the part of its people to thrust respond- t Dili upon the Government for the carrying I otis of interests usually left to private enterprise. Thus the railways owned and controlled by the State should, one would expect. bo run in the interests of the people as 1 i .a whole, free from the abuses generally attributed to systems under private control. 5 | That such is not the case is evidenced by the fact that differential rating of a pro- 1 nounced typo is indulged in to the disadvantage of tho North, as against the South <, Island. Competition is supposed to eliminate ? all sentiment from business, but it is evident 7 that such is not the case in the North Island, r for its merchants allow themselves to be (l plundered for the benefit of their Southern competitors, who ipay appreciate their altruistic spirit while profiting by the advan- g tar*' given them by an unfair system of « differential rating. TorRiST. fi: TP