IMPORT CONTROL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23272, 15 February 1939, Page 15

IMPORT CONTROL

REFUSAL OF SUMMONS I DESPOTIC ACTION DICTATORSHIP PARALLEL GRAVITY OF DECISION "The decision of the Government, announced in to-day's newspapers, intimating its intention to close the doors of the Law Courts against one section of the community, constitutes one of the gravest events in the constitutional history of our country, and serves to illustrate with striking clarity the lengths to which despotic and bureaucratic government may go," said Mr. R. M. Algie, organiser of the New Zealand Freedom Association, in a statement issued yesterday.

The statement was in reference to the Solicitor-General's having informed the Bureau of Importers in Auckland, through its legal advisers, that he will not grant consent to the issue of an originating summons to test the validity of the Import Control Legislation, 1938. Freedom Smothered "The ringing tones of that great expression of British freedom and independence, Magna Carta, have echoed and re-echoed over the seven greatest centuries of our history, only to be smothered and perhaps obliterated by the more strident tones of a Socialistic Government committed to a most short-sighted policy," the statement continued. " 'Justice,' says Magna Carta, 'shall not be denied or sold to anyone.' But, says the New Zealand Government, the ordinary channels of approach to the Courts shall be denied to any section of the community if the question to be decided conflicts with Government policy. "So we march on toward the triumph of unrestricted and unchallengeable government by decree, by proclamation and by Order-in-Council, from which there is to be no appeal. The parallel with a European dictatorship is wellnigh complete. For a Government which will thus ride rough-shod over longestablished principles of justice to call itself democratic, is simply a shocking misuse of language and an insult to the intelligence of the New Zealand public. "Liberty at Stake"

"After, all, the question at issue is very simple," adds the statement. "It affects the man in the street, and it concerns his interests vitally. It is his liberty which is at stake in the long run. Some legislation of a very restrictive nature is introduced by the Government.

"The law gays, and it has said so for years, that any citizen who wishes to test the meaning or validity of any Statute, by-law, will, deed and so forth can do so simply by placing the matter before the Courts for their decision. If, then, the Government was sure of the legality of its actions regarding import control, what could it desire more than that its legislation should receive the approval and support of a decision of the only tribunal in the country that is entirely independent and wholly free from prejudice, political feelings and influence ?

"if, on the other hand, the Government has reason to doubt the legality and justice of its own actions and to dread exposure, what could be more disastrous for it than to lose its case in the Courts? Why is the Government afraid to face the issue ? Arbitrary Legislation

"If this recent attempt to legislate arbitrarily by Order-in-Council and 10 refuse ordinary access to the Courts goes unchallenged and undefeated, ive must resign ourselves to the consequences. We iniibC in this event be prepared to see the diminution, perhaps the destruction, authority of Parliament over all" matters of State economic policy. And for the future we must be prepared to witness the advent of important and . far-reaching changes merely by the introduction over-night of autocratic Orders-in-Couu-cil.

"This would inevitably lead, and lead quickly, to the substitution of legislation by decree for that based upon free and unfettered debate by the chosen representatives of the people in Parliament."