Government Control of Industrial Plants

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 172, 7 August 1937, Page 16

Government Control of Industrial Plants

■ ; mm ♦ • RIGA.-r-There are to be f ewer industrial plants, i'ii Latvia and more government 'control, accor'ding ' to sthtements made by Andrejs Berzins, president of the !Latvian' Chamber of Cominerce and Industry." * All industrial enterpxises are now subject to' recqncessioMng and the Trade and Industry' Depar'tment * of the Latvian Go vernnieht i's collecting informatioh^on th*e number of 'factories, thpir output, 1 their- nature as - source of revenue .to the Government ; as taxpayers/and their usefulness. Mr Eerzins said that if certain factories do not eomply -with present requirements, they. should be closed down, Owners will Jbe required to get together and Teach a voluntary agreeinent as to which* of' their plants should be up, and if they canndt "agree, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry will decide which of th'e plants need not be reconcessioned. * ■ • ► . * , This move of the Chamber of Comtmerce and Industry, wMch is virtually a gbvernment institution, ■, places industry under greater state control than ever before. . • Opo of the underlying reasons for this move .is to reduce thc number of factory workers and to shift them back. to farming. As many as 48,000 foreign farm hands will be' required this season in Latvia because of pernianent lack of local farm labourers. Whether this desire of the Government will be ih; line with the desires of the workers is aiiother question.