JIBE, BUT NO ANSWER

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 54, 1 September 1944, Page 4

JIBE, BUT NO ANSWER

In a, typical speech last night, the , Minister of Mines (Mr. Webb) resorted to a cheap jibe at the expense of the president of the Associated Chambers of Commerce (Mr. Paterson) and of private enterprise generally in an endeavour to justify the policy which he and the Government are pursuing. The mines of New Zealand, he declared, had been positively ruined by private enterprise, and because of this it had been necessary for the Government—against its will, and in the public interest-rto go in for a policy of State purchase. The public, we are sure, will not be so easily deceived. From, the inception of the coal-mining industry in New Zealand private enterprise has expended large sums of money in exploration and development, and if the stage has now been reached when the mines can no longer be operated with economy and efficiency the fault does not lie with the companies. Under the policy followed by Mr. Webb the position of the owners has become intolerable, and it is little wonder that they have welcomed the opportunity of transferring their properties to the State. On no occasion have they received from the Government the support to which they were entitled. One of the main causes of the position' in which they now find themselves has been the weak and vacillating attitude of the Minister and the Government when industrial disputes have occurred. Ministers have certainly not been sparing o| words in their condemnation of. the ' action of striking miners, but words, no matter how forthright they are, are a poor substitute for action. And the failure to take action when the occasion demanded it has contributed in a large measure to the difficulties of private owners. In a cable message from Canberra today, the Australian Prime Minister (Mr, Curtin) is reported as having made the following statement in regard to the'position on the Australian coalfields: "Strikes have got to be stamped out. The union will be destroyed if it cannot exercise discip-

line, and I accept also as logical that the Government will be destroyed unless it can also enforce discipline. The law we have passed in respect to coal mining will be enforced ruthlessly against those to whom it applies, whether they belong to the miners or the managers."' In New Zealand the Government has " consistently capitulated to the trouble-making sections of the miners, and the results of that capitulation can now be .clearly seen. The Minister of Mines cannot hope to escape his responsibility by endeavouring to place the blame for the present position; of the coal-mining industry on the shoulders of private enterprise. That is altogether too thin.