EFFICIENCY BILL.

Wairarapa Age, 7 October 1936, Page 5

EFFICIENCY BILL.

FURTHER DEBATE IN HOUSE. lf J MEASURE SUPPORTED BY MB. ROBERTS. MR. WRIGHT FEARS COMBINES AGAINST PUBLIC, , (By Telegraph— 44 The Age” Special.) WELLINGTON, October 6. During the further discussion of the Industrial Efficiency Bill in the HoUse of Representatives to-night, Mr. Ben Roberts (Wairarapa) suggested that if the Minister of Finance was negotiating agreements in England for the benefit of our farmers and manufacturers, making a reciprocal bargain, be must have data and some planning must be brought into force in the Dominion. The Efficiency Bill represented an intelligent approach to a planned programme. It was part of the Government’s policy to plan conscientiously and intelligently for the national welfare, for the latter was paramount and not individual profit. The Bill did not go as far as he wished, but it was not always a question of how far along the road they had progressed, but whether the direction was right.

Quoting notable examples of savings through tho official regulation of road transport, Mr. H. M. Christie (Waipawa) employed these illustrations as arguments for the proper organisation of industry, but Mr. R. A. Wright (Wellington Suburbs) put before the House an entirely different view of the Industrial Efficiency Bill. He aroused instant interruption when he opened with the declaration that it was proposing to organise rings and combines to keep up prices and that if the measure worked at all it would force manufacturers into a sort of combine against the general public. This would be done under the guise of rationalisation and efficiency, but with all their reduced costs there was nothing to prevent these people charging the same prices and exploiting the public, and if there were any attempt to control prices grave difficulty would be encountered by the Industries Bureau.