'SHOULD TAKE A HOLIDAY’

Taranaki Daily News, 22 December 1932, Page 4

'SHOULD TAKE A HOLIDAY’

SUGGESTIONS TO PARLIAMENT INTERFERENCE WITH BUSINESS. DANGER OF RECENT LEGISLATION. CHAMBERS’ PRESIDENT’S ADVICE. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Dec. 21. Mr. A. S. Burgess (Wanganui), chairman of the Associated Chambers of Commerce, in a statement to-day said that the fact had to be faced that more . ; harm than good was being done by legislation interposing • the State in private contracts. However pressing the situation and however great the justification the legislators of the country considered to be theirs in making those Taws, it should be clearly indicated that they were of a purely temporary nature and they should be cancelled at the earliest possible opportunity. . _ . I Mr. Burgess said that the legislation, while of some immediate benefit to cer-. tain farmers, destroyed the confidence . of investors in mortgages and made it harder than ever for members of the . farming community as a whole to arrange finance for carrying on. This must necessarily follow interference with the inevitable economic processes. “It is evident that the general public is looking to the Parliamentary machine to legislate us into better times, said Mr. Burgess. “I wish to stress on behalf of my association that this is altogether . wrong. New statutes for such a purpose are of no use because if those statutes interfere further with the natural econo-. j mlc processes they are not merely use- ■ less but definitely injurious. “The most the commercial community hopes for and the most constructive proposal it can urge for the purpose .of economic reconstruction is that Parliament cease to interfere'with trade, industry and commerce. The -business world is endeavouring to carry on not with the help of what Parliament does but in spite of what Parliament does. The powers of Parliament have been widely used beyond their proper, sphere and it is time the country realised that individual endeavour is the mainspring of trade prosperity. “We are confronted with circumstances which can be surmounted only by a determined process of individual adjust- ! ment to conform to the reduced and private income, an adjustment that is still going on quietly, and unobtrusively in private business. This remedy may be unattractive, even painful, but, it is the only remedy. “There are two things that Parliament can do—stop borrowing, and reduce expenditure. There are many recommendations made by the /National Expenditure Commission which ■ are ■ not yet adopted. The second is that the- country needs a legislative holiday in order that we may be enabled to get on with the job.” . T '