STATE CONTROL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 24009, 5 July 1941, Page 13

STATE CONTROL

INDUSTRY HAMPERED MOVE BY DISTRIBUTORS PROTECTION OF INTERESTS Steps have been taken by a committee representing the distributing industry in Auckland to form an organisation to protect it against the inroads of Government control and it will hold a meeting in the Chamber of Commerce Hall on Thursday, July 17. All sections of the distributing services, wholesale, retail and carrying, are being invited to attend A circular which has been issued states that the necessity for combination in -defence of the industry's interests arises from the following: "The main violence of the Government's attack on our economic structure .has fallen upon the distributing industry until we cannot move hand or foot without the permission of some Government department or other; the measures imposed on us go beyond any necessities of the war situation and, in fact, were initiated before any such necessities arose; it is evident that the Labour Party are using the plea of war necessity ns a means to securing the full establishment of their long-desired Socialistic dictatorship;.through lack of organised opposition they are steadily securing despotic control of the trades union movement and debasing it to the position of an instrument of their political and individual ambitions." A committee has been formed, continues the circular, and it recommends consideration of the formation of an association with the Following objects: "To protect the commerce of the Dominion from exploitation by the Socialist Party; to check the continued growth of the bureaucratic autocracy with its meddlesome and inefficient interference in trade; to release trade unions from political control of any sort; to secure the whole-hearted co-operation of all sections of the distributing industry whether employer or employee; to create in the workers' mind 'job security,' that there will be no reduction in salary or dismissal of staff." "The association to be formed will be an independent one, but as political action is forced upon us it is proposed to co-opcrate with the National Party for the approaching general election and to secure representation on the executives of that body to represent our interests,"' the circular proceeds. "We are assured on their part of the cordial co-operation of the National Party, and the meeting will be addressed by Messrs. H. T. Merritt and W. H. Fortune, candidates for Auckland East and Eden, respectively."