PRIVATE ENTERPRISE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21019, 7 May 1930, Page 23

PRIVATE ENTERPRISE

DEMANDS FAIR FIELD. PRIME MINISTER’S SUPPORT. Contributed by the Associated Chambers of Commerce. A little more than a year ago—on February 6, 1929, to be precise—a very large deputation of business and professional men, representative of all parts of tho Dominion, waited upon Sir Joseph* Ward, who two months previously had’ been installed in the office of Prime Minister in succession to the Right Hon. J. G. Coates, with a request that hev would give effect, with all convenient speed, to the opinions he had expressed from time to time, concerning the unfair competition by sState and local body undertakkgitimate private enterprise. Mr C. P. Agar, now the president of the Associated Chambers of Commerce of New Zealand, was the principal spokesman on behalf of the deputation, and having presented very lucidly the case against promiscuous State and local body- trading he submitted to the Minister the following resolution adopted by the 1928 Committee, an organisation now absorbed by the Associated Chambers of Commerce;— This conference congratulates the Government on the recent utterances of Cabinet Ministers definitely deprecating Government competition and interference with legitimate private trading and business and professional enterprise. It assumes from those utterances that there will- be no future extension of by Government departments in trading, and that the operations of such trading departments as have been shown to compete unfairly with the legitimate' business of subjects of the State will be curtailed and discontinued; also that where special control legislation and restrictive regulations exist which destroy initiative and repress enterprise in the- professions, industries, and business concerns of the Dominion, -without any compensating advantage to the community, but to its commercial disadvantage, these will be repealed at. an early date, and the conference assures the Government that it will give all assistance in preparing a ml forwarding information towards this end, if it is desired to do so. In conclusion, Mr Agar expressed a hope that Sir Joseph Ward’s very long association with business and his realisation of the need and value of individual effort would ensure the country against the blighting influences of unnecessary State interference with private enterprise. In the course of his reply to Mr Agar’s representations, the Prime Minister, in addition to endorsing the views expressed by the spokesman ot the deputation, referred briefly to observations of his own on the subject; His personal feeling was, he said, that the Great War, and the new and grave problems it brought in its tram, were, largely responsible for the strange and difficult conditions that were besetting some of the younger countries. He.had been, comparatively lately, in the Urn ted States of America and in Canada, and from personal investigation and inquiry in these countries he was driven to the conclusion that, they were not suffering nearly so much from the aftermath of- the war as were New Zealand and, of course, the Mother Country. In the other countries he had mentioned there had beep tremendous prosperity in their commercial life, and he was satisfied that JM ew Zealand, whoever its rulers might bcjjl would have to institute a policy, of enterprise and courage before it would definitely enjoy, the measures of commercial security and general prosperity these other countries possessed. The Government might providefacilities towards this end, but the individual would have to turn them to account. * Candour and harmony between labour and capital, the Minister went on to say, were the _ prime factors towards a prosperous nation. He was satisfied that many of the business people of New Zealand, for quite a long time, had been sunenng encroachments from one source or another- which were not in the best interests of the community. The’ Mother Country had been suffering in the same way, aa the result of the war conditions, but the people there had begun to realise teat what may be permissible, or even desirable, in circumstances of emergency, may be flagrantly, undesirable when normal conditions were restored. He thought he might, without any impropriety, point to the incongruity of a man in business Paying all the taxation that was- going while some State department close by in the same line of business paid neither income tax nor land tax. and traded on cheap State money. ■ No one could make mm believe that in any of the cities of New Zealand it was a fair thing for municipalities to compote against ratepayers m their own town when the municipalities paid no license, no income tax, no land tax, and no rates on the premises they occupied. Returning to the subject in a later part of bis speech, Sir Joseph said he hoped, with the assistance of his colleagues, the members of all sections the House, and the fair-minded public, to reach a solution of the problem in the near future. ~ Hiis it must appear obvious that Sir Joseph Ward and-his colleagues stand committed to legislation which will give to legitimate private enterprise protectiqn. from unfair State and municipal activities. A Bill towards this end was drafted during last year’s session of Parliament, but Sir Joseph Ward’s illness stayed its further progress,' Presumably, a fully-considered measure will be produced during the approaching session Giinousty enough, a similar fate befel a ir af tbe same character prepared’by inotj rrii , 0< during the session of 1928. Then the handy man of the Reform Government, Mr M‘Leod had wrestled with the intricacies of his measure for weeks on end, only to find, as members outlie House were hurrying away to their, electorates, that there was no place for it on the Order Paper. Sir Joseph Ward is not likely to find his Bill delayed in this fashion or in any other fashion. He and his party stand committed, as Mr Loates, Ins predecessor in office does, to an equitab e adjustment of the relations between State and municipal enterprise Private enterprise. New Zealand has loitered far too long in returning to preF conditions in this respect. England. Canada, the United States, and practical]v ah European countries have adjusted themselves to the conditions of a X'vl f New Zealand cannot altoul to stand longer outside this progrcssivo circle.