PRIVATE ENTERPRISE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20058, 22 September 1928, Page 16

PRIVATE ENTERPRISE.

Sir.—l notice from the report in the Herald that the "charter" of the 1928 committee is as follows: "That Government activities and functions should be limited and restricted to those matters only which cannot be undertaken by individuals or groups of individuals, and that the greatest possible scope should be given to the free working of the natural law of supply and demand, and to the dcvelopemiit of individual initiative and ability; and,, therefore, that ex isting State institutions and public bodies, the functions of which are in conflict with the spirit of the above principle, should be so dealt with as to conform thereto by a process of gradual adjust rnent." The same idea in the same language was expressed by mo in these columns on February 4. What I wish to say now is that the bulk of public opinion in this country is undoubtedly behind this idea. The municipal baths poll has been decisively rejected by the ratepayers. Why? Simply because we must get away from municipal enterprise and back to private enterprise. When will those in authority and power realise how profound was the public, indignation at that gross interference with legitimate private enterprise by the bus regulations under the flimsy pretext of ''control." What opportunity for voicing that indignation was given by the Royal Commission which later deliberated upon this matter ? I, as a member of the public, certainly did my utmost to appear before that commission and put forward the plea on behalf of private enterprise, but I was definitely refused permission to give my evidence. However, the development and progress of any country is just 110 more and no less than the development of its individual citizens; and until private enterprise, as opposed to State and municipal enterprise, is given more encouragement to go forward, the country as a whole, will assuredly g<i backward. ' The New Order.