Public Opinion

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 242, 13 October 1936, Page 6

Public Opinion

PLANNING Sir, —I find the correspondence that has been continued by Mr. Nowell Izard of considerable interest, and hope that I may be permitted to add further to it. I hope Mr. Izard will believe me when I say that I (and not only I) have given serious thought to what • will be the effect of planning industrial development. But it is obvious that his and my ideas of how this planning will be gone about are very different, and it is obvious that he is jssuming that planning will have to extend into much further fields than i I. contemplate. . My first reason for supporting in- 1 iustrial planning is that only in this ! ; way can we obtain that efficiency in industry which will enable the major-1 ity of our citizens to have the freedom ! and leisure we all desire. Having J secured this leisure my chief desire j would be to extend the bounds of ; freedom, and remove many of the re-1 strictions that exist to-day on speech,!; writing, and action. My second reason for supporting ( industrial planning applies only to the socialist and not to the fascist type. Socialist planning means that industry is run (in the main) not by the “great men” whom “Ledger” referred to, but by the wokers in industry . themselves. There are two reasons ( for this “workers’ control": first, thaC ( those who work in the industry (as , those who live in any one community) ( are the most fitted to run it; and secondly, that it is the socialist aim to ( extend the possibilities for the free- . dom and self-government of the , majority. (To-day Mr. Izard and 1 have some—limited —opportunity for this freedom and self-government in our lives—but we are in the minority.) This is, very briefly, the explanation of the paradox that extension of State I ownership, when 'Hied with socialist i planning, means 'ncreased freedom—and that the extension of public or < State (as opposed to personal or pri- ■ vate) control of industry paves the : way to the day when the State (in Karl Marx's famous phrase) “will wither away.”—l am, etc., ORMOND WILSON. i NEW PROSPERITY ERA Sir,—May I be permitted to publicly : congratulate you on the very fine ■ leading article headed “New Pros- ’ perity Era,” in Friday’s issue of your i paper, and to commend it to every i thinking person in the community. ; Being a bookseller and newsagent < I have access to all sorts of maga- i zines, etc., from all parts of the world, ’ and being something of a student of ( world affairs I read them extensively, < but I have rarely read a better or : sounder article. I endorse what you ; say about the man “who minds his i own business.” It is lamentable to ; find so much ignorance and apathy in < the community about public affairs ■ and finance, for people are too busy j “minding their own business,” and . that is why the world at present is [ rushing to the madness of war. j I am also fully in accord with your | concluding paragrph and consider it ( is high time we had a party in power ] who really believe in the doctrine that , the consumer should be king, which, ( by the way, is one of, if not the fun- t damental principle of Major Douglas’ t philosophy. ( Carry on, Mr Editor, and give us < more articles of the calibre of “New Prosperity Era.”—l am.,' eac. “BOOKSELLER." Wan gan ui. 1 i