ISSUE DEFINED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23082, 6 July 1938, Page 15

ISSUE DEFINED

REPLY BY MINISTER REGULATION OF INDUSTRY WIDE APPROVAL CLAIMED TRANSPORT POLICY BENEFITS [BY TELEGRAPFT —SPECIAL REPORTER] WELLINGTON. Tuesday That in the co-ordination of transport anrl in the rationalisation of industry New Zealand was merely following a trend well established in other countries was the argument put forward by the Minister of Industries and Commerce, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan, during tho Address-in-Bepl.v debate in the House of Representatives to-day. Mr. Sullivan said the charge of socialisation raised by tlie Opposition was merely a fictitious issue created because the Opposition could not afford to attack the Government on its actual legislation. The true issue, and the one which would be recognised by the electorate, was whether or not the Government was right in its policy of redistributing tbe national wealth in tho way it was doing. Co-ordination of Transport "The co-ordination of transport services running alongside the railways is working out very well, indeed," said Mr. Sullivan. "1 will be able to give the House full details during the financial debate. Similar action has been taken in every other country where an intelligent interest is taken in transport. "In Great Britain the railways have taken the line of absorbing competitive services by buying them out and thus cutting out duplication. Boad and other transport has been adjusted to the railways in New Zealand, where the railways are nationally owned. It is"' tbe rational thing that that should be done by the Government." The clause in the Opposition no-con-fidence amendment relating to the Bureau of Industry would put fear into thousands of businessmen throughout the country, Mr. Sullivan said. The legislation of the Government had brought order out of chaos and had effected unprecedented harmony and satisfaction in industry. To abolish it would be to rouse the opposition of thousands, of men and women in industry. " Living in Dark Ages " Tbe Minister continued that ho had hundreds of letters expressing in tho strongest terms approval of what had been done, among them letters from the wheat. Hour and baking industries, tho petrol resellers' organisation and from the Manufacturers' Federation and many of its branches. If the Opposition wanted to throw industry back into the old cannibalism it would be making a political blunder cf the first magnitude. "On the question of the rationalisation of industry the Opposition appears to be living in the dark ages," added Mr. Sullivan. "There has been rationalisation of industry in almost every other country." The Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. A. Hamilton: But it has been done by private enterprise. Mr. Sullivan: Yes, that is tho danger. We don't impose rationalisation from above, but bring every section of the i industry into the discussion first and safeguard the country as a whole. Mr. Hamilton: Other Governments are not buying their competitors out. Mr. Sullivan: No. Worse than that they are forcing them out in many instances. Company's Case Quoted A Voice: That is happening hero, too. Mr. Sullivan: Will 3-011 give one instance of that? Mr. S. G. Holland (Opposition— Christehurch North): A. H. Turnbull and Company were forced out of the butter business. Mr. Sullivan said tho case of Turnbull and Company bad boon given the closest and most sympathetic consideration by the Minister of Marketing, who would be able to give a complete answer to the charge. "The new legislation is as milk and water compared with tho dictatorial powers allowed the previous Government under the Board of Trade Act," Mr. Sullivan concluded. "There was no limit to its powers under that legislation. I say definitely that if not 100 per cent nearly 100 per cent of the people with whom we have dealt are satisfied. The Opposition cannot expect to upset that work without arousing fierce antagonism."