Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE TUESDAY, SEPT. 29, 1936. CONTROL OF INDUSTRY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19132, 29 September 1936, Page 4

Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE TUESDAY, SEPT. 29, 1936. CONTROL OF INDUSTRY

Before i'h' iii<l usl rialists ol' the Dominion have hud time to realise fully the probable effects of the Government's heavy increases in taxation and to make the necessary adjustments, they are confronted with another measure which, although it does not specifically say so, appears to threaten the complete control of all industry by the Stale. Using the high-sounding title of “The Industrial Kllieiency Bill,” the Minister lias explained (hat the measure aims at bringing about co-operation between the State and industry; at making industry more scientific and more unified; and at applying science standards and coordination. All these things, whatever they may really mean, sound very well, and, at first sight, may convey the impression that the Government is setting out to be a kind of fairy godfather to industry, to endow it with modern principles, and to teach highly-skilled and highlytrained business men the correct way to run a business. There is net the slightest doubt that some industries, perhaps many of them, could be greatly improved, but the general opinion of those who have had the most .experience will be that the best means of achieving this end would be for the Government to interfere less, instead of more. In his introductory remarks the Minister almost damned the bill with faint praise, for lie more than once insisted that he wauled to secure the best opinion from all sides, and even added that if those who were most concern'd did not want the measure he would be prepared to let it drop. His remarks rather left the impression that lie was being compelled to father an unwanted child and that nothing would please hint more than the discovery of some reasonable excuse for abandoning it. The .Minister stated that lie fully realised the importance of the bill and its implications. It; is important, that the public, too, should understand exactly wli.at is implied. The basis of the plan is that, the industry of the Dominion should be placed under the control of a Bureau of Industry consisting exclusively of State officials. Apparently there is to be no limit to the powers of this bureau. It can bring forward a plan for the reorganisation of any industry and

the plan ran ho applied compulsorily to any unit in the industry concerned. It. appears to be possible to prevent any business commencing or continuing without a license from the bureau, and a. license once granted can bo cancelled at will. It i.s not necessary to consider the measure any further than this to be- able to appreciate the extent to which any such proposals would retard the development of the industries which the country so sorelv needs*. The powers of the bureau, however, only start with the licensing of industry. Tt is empowered to interfere in every conceivable phase, to make regulations and conditions under which an industry, and presumably' any* unit of it:, will be permitted to operate; to fix prices, and even, regulate discounts and royalties; to control marketing; and to do ‘‘whatever may be necessary or expedient . . . to carry out any' plan.” There cannot be the slightest doubt that if the bill becomes law the Government will have taken the first step towards the complete socialisation of industry, for it would be possible lo place industry' in a .strait jacket from which there could bo no escape and to stifle that private initiative and enterprise which has made the Dominion what it is to-day.

The primary objection to the measure, therefore, arises from tke mere contemplation of the further intrusion of the State into a sphere in which it has no right and proper place. Tim development of any country, and particularly a young one such as New Zealand, depends upon the free and unfettered scope for the expansion of industry, and to the extent tlmt the Government interferes and creates a lack of confidence that scope must lie restricted. For this reason the bill consists of what the Minister himself has rightly* described as a ‘‘substantial experiment,” not justified by existing conditions, and possessing all the elements of potential industrial disruption. This, then, is the basic objection to the principle, and if consideration is given to the outstanding details it is found that they are even more obnoxious. It has been stated that the control of industry is to be placed in the hands of a bureau, not of experienced industrialists, but of academical servants of the State. The Minister pointed out that there was a right of appeal—but the appeal is -only to the Minister himself! The bureau is specifically invested with 'the judicial powers of a commission, but there is no right of appeal to a- judicial body, and In this respect alone the ntea-sttre infringes all the accepted principles oi justice. The provisions, however, go even further, for the Minister has the right of veto over any decision of the bureau. In effect, therefore, one man holding political office is to be given the right to determine whether any individual or firm shall establish or operate an industry; initiative and enterprise may' count for nothing unless those possessing it are first able 10 secure the goodwill and approval ot whoever happens to be the Minister of -the day. This is not the first of the Government’s measures to confer dictatorial powers on one man, but in no other direction has the power of dictatorship been carried to such an extreme.