BUREAUCRATIC CONTROL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 263, 5 November 1937, Page 6

BUREAUCRATIC CONTROL

CAUSE OF MANY TROUBLES. TRADE AND INDUSTRY STRANGLED. [ Per Press Association. ] TIMARU, Nov. 4. The tendency all over the world for Governments to increase bureaucratic control over the people, to limit their liberties, and to hinder those with a creative instinct, was commented upon by the pesident of the Chambers of Commerce at the annual conference yesterday when he said: I think many of our troubles are due to this cause, and as Government supervision and control tighten around trade and industry, so will initiative be strangled and the condition of the whole body of the people steadily deteriorate. I think that perhaps the greatest hindrance to progress and orderly change in the life of a democratic community is the growth of power of bureaucratic government. It is a matter for serious consideration whether the network of restrictions woven by modern bureaucracy around the activities of the people will not eventually so repress and negative individual initiative as to cause it to atrophy for want of opportunity of expression. Government is interfering more and more in the business life of the community, and it is a natural and human failing that the first thought of every man when examining/new legislation is, “How will this affect me? Do I gain or lose?” Gentlemen, we must get out of this habit, for invariably when we adopt a selfish attitude we take a short view. State action in trade and industry almost invariably acts to the immediate advantage of some section of the business or farming community. Some of us gain by it, but certain vital principles of freedom are lost and the final reaction is to our disadvantage as a whole. I put it to you, gentlemen, that no matter what we as individuals may (stand to gain by particular State regu- : Jation or interference in trade and in- ! dusry we must oppose it tooth and nail in the sure knowledge that in the long run it will prove injurious to the community as a whole, and as our welfare is wrapped up in the welfare of the people, no matter w’hat immediate advantage we may gain by unsound action on the part of the State, no permanent advantage can possibly accrue to us.