NEW DICTATORS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22846, 29 September 1937, Page 18

NEW DICTATORS

STATE OFFICIALDOM BUSINESS MAN'S PROTEST POLITICAL INTERFERENCE [ilY TELEGRAPH —OWN* CORRESPONDENT] CHRISTCHURCH, Tuesday "Tho servants have become dictators. While we remain democratic we aro over-run by thorn, and it is a question how long the people will allow their blood-bought liberties to be smashed by dictators disguised as democrats," said Mr. V. E. Hamilton, retiring president of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce, at tho annual dinner of the chamber.

Mr. Hamilton emphasised tho diffi- j culties faced by the business com- j munity through recent legislative changes. "In all tho 78 years of tho .j existence of tho chamber it is doubtful .whether the businessmen of this country have had to face such revolutionary political interference in their affairs, not excepting the emergency legislation of tho war period," said Mr. Hamilton. Government's Own Position "Interference has been so great and the conditions of employment aro so irksome that employers in every walk of life may well ask whether it is worth while being the nominal owners of concerns which are subject to Ministers and Government officials interfering with businesses of which they have little or no knowledge. "One significant fact which emerges from the legislative experiments of tho last year is that the Government itself is unable to work its departments under the restrictions it imposes upon private enterprise. With its housing schemes the Government takes powers not permitted to a landlord. It also works its staffs for hours and at rates not permitted for tho private employer. "Legislative Madness" "The last session of Parliament placed 79 Statutes on the Statute Book. This legislative spate gives cause for the greatest concern, in that it overregulates a law-abiding citizenship to a point where many laws and regulations aro broken every day, and thus the law is brought into disrepute. Onlookers may be pardoned for wondering how trade and commerce can flourish with the ever-present fear and unrest caused by the onrush of legislative madness."

Mr. Hamilton particularly criticised the tendency to make regulations which left final power in the hands of Ministers of the Crown, the subject being denied the right of recourse to the Courts.

"Some of the new laws violate the basic principles of justice," he said. "It is a new and a bad thing that the decision of a Minister, who may be inexperienced and perhaps biased, shall be final. It is wrong that the subject has no right to he heard in a Court, of law and no right of appeal. The Minister decides finally and absolutely. It is astounding that any British community stands it. Will it oontinue to do so?"

PRESENT-DAY PROBLEMS

FUNCTION OF THE STATE VIEWS OF HON. A. HAMILTON [BY TELEGRAPH —OWN CORRESPONDENT^ CHRISTCIIURCH. Tuesday The political subjects agitating the minds of the people now wore different from what they had boon in the past, said the Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. Adam Hamilton,,m addressing the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce at its annual dinner. Formerly, people had been concerned about tho relative, merits of freehold and leasehold, or free trade and protection. Now one of the chief interests was the relation of the Stato and private enterprise. Was there a place for each? Mr. Hamilton personally considered that there were some services, so long as they had the character of a national monopoly, like the Post Office, which it was not unwise for tho State to control. Others the State might have to regulate. One problem at the moment was the desire of the chemists that a large English concern should not start operations in New Zealand, said Mr. Hamilton. The business men ought to show members of Parliament what was wanted in such things. They should not pass the burden of answering such questions on to the legislators, but should make up their minds, for this meant government interference. There was the question whether the State or the individual was greater. Was the State superior, or was it merclv a central authority to cany out the will of the individual? Tho world was rapidlv getting to a position where the State was supreme and the individual was obedient to its will. Mr. Hamilton said he considered that the function of the State was so to older society that tho individual might develop to the fullest. Social credit was another question now constantly on the horizon, and it could not be brushed aside merely by saying that it was unsound. Many people believed that the monetary system was the cause of the great part of the world's* evils. Was tho monetary system defective? This was a thing that had to be pronounced upon, and the business community should make up its mind. The tendency in a democratic world was to lean to the borrowers rather than the lenders. The proper balance had to bo maintained between money and goods. Mr. Hamilton believed that no country was following a soundci monctarv course than Great Britain. In addition to all these problems was the vital one of equality for agriculture The farmers, whose goods had to i) 0 sold ill world markets over tariff walls, wanted compensated prices. What was tho right thing to do.