The Wanganui Chronicle MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 1938. THE DUTY OF CITY COUNCILLORS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 203, 29 August 1938, Page 6

The Wanganui Chronicle MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 1938. THE DUTY OF CITY COUNCILLORS

’yTIEHE is some confusion of thought concerning the attitude which City Councillors should adopt in respect to State and private trading. There are those who believe that the State monopolist of what a man should earn and of the goods that he should be the sole trader and also the sole employer, being the shall receive. Those who hold this view would be naturally inclined to place all of the business of the City in the hands of the State. On the other hand there are those who believe that State trading is bad in itself, that it is not the business of the State to compete with its own citizens and those who thus think would naturally prefer to place all of the City’s business with private enterprise. Between these two extremes of opinion there is, of course, a middle ground on which undoubtedly the very great majority of the people stand. There are some things which are better left to the State and there arc other things which arc better left to the enterprise of the private individual or firm. It is a matter of experimentation to discover which is the better for one to perform »nd which is better for the other to carry out. When it is proved that one method is the better, then it is the sensible thing to adopt that which has been proved to be the most efficacious. In the realm of the municipality it has been found by experience, that water supply, drainage and possibly gas supply, can be carried out satisfactorily by the municipal body. In these instances, however, competition is not possible because once the installation is made it is not practicable to lay down a duplicate system and allow the two to fight the matter out on the basis of fair competition. Generally, however, a satisfactory position is arrived at in these matters because of the practical good sense of the people running such undertakings. It should, nevertheless, never be lost from sight that the standard of professional skill is in the main set by those engaged in private enterprise and that State and municipal enterprise gains the advantage of this tonic effect. Without competition of any kind it is more than probable that intrigue would take the place of efficiency as it has evidently done in Russia, with the result that sabotage and treason trials are the order of the day in the industrial and political fields. In the main, State enterprise refuses to accept the same conditions as those under which private enterprise operates, for it seems to be fairly evident that, as a general rule, State enterprise cannot compete successfully with private enterprise. The only test which can be applied in respect to any relationship is the price for equivalent article or service. The City Council recently reversed its decision to place its insurance business with the State Fire Office in favour of the New Zealand Insurance Company. The action of the City Council in this respect was justified on the ground that it was the Council’s duty to conserve the interests of the ratepayers and the company offered a lower premium rate than did the State Office. The ownership of 1 lie two institutions is a matter of small amount for the State can be said to own one and to be a partner in the other to the extent of some £BOO,OOO, for without the Government engaging in any risk at all, the New Zealand Insurance Company pays to the Government £40,000 annually by way of taxation. A correspondent in this issue suggests that the Government’s allocations of funds to promote employment in this district should have weighed with the City Council, but this is a misconception, for it is the taxpayers’ money which is being allocated and is no more than a return to the district of the money collected within it. Councillor Armstrong was quite right in bringing the matter forward again, seeing that the majority of the Council were in f avoU r—on the quite appropriate ground, that it was to the advantage of the City—of the previous decision being reversed.