The Hokitika Guardian THURSDAY, MARCH 9th, 1922. GOVERNMENT CONTROL.

Hokitika Guardian, 9 March 1922, Page 2

The Hokitika Guardian THURSDAY, MARCH 9th, 1922. GOVERNMENT CONTROL.

Circumstances govern th© conditions as to whether Government control will be good ; bad or indifferent. Under war conditions when the circumstances are in extremis, and it is a matter of life and death, then of course the Government has inherent powers of action beyond question, and the control is unlimited. In times of peace different conditions, obtain, and judgment should be exercised as to the extent of the control. In the present period although it is after the war, there are unsettled conditions which have given Government a certain degree of license and it becomes a matter of judgment as to how far the control should be exercised. Since the war there has been much meddling in business and commercial ventures in the desire to stabilise prices, assure supplies or otherwise meet extraordinary conditions which have developed out of war time effects. The matter of wheat supply and the price of bread mentioned at this week’s meeting of the Westland Chamber of Commerce is a case in point. The Government had a difficulty in maintaining a wheat supply during the war period, and had to adopt various methods to meet the position and assure a bread supply. At the meeting just referred to, the matter wag made very plain by the Chairman’s explanatory statement in showing how the Government had been forced to make arrangements. Hut for the price offered the wheat yield would not be so great, and a shortage would have meant a dearer commodity still. It was largely Hobson’s choice for the Government. Last year the conditions were reversed and the miller had to be subsidised. Through that channel there was a heavy drain on the Consolidated Fund. This year by the method adopted, the fund should be considerably replenished. That fund is the main administrative fund of the Dominion and its ability to meet charges is governed by its volume. To that extent it is the peoples’ Fund, for if short, money must be raised through other channels from the people to keep tho administration going. If the fund \

is buoyant, then taxation direct and indirect can be lessened, and the people as a whole obtain the advantage. There is no doubt that under normal, conditions, Government interfe/ence in trading should be avoided, and as the country is now Returning to what lire considered pre-war conditions there will be less occasion for paternal attention. Wheat is of course an important product for the life and health of the people, and generally speaking New Zealand has been able, to meet its own

demands. When woo) and other pastoral produce realise abnormal prices the farmers diminished' Uleir wheat growing which was not so profitable. A shortage jesulted, and the Government lmd to meet it with the least injury to the people. It was better in the long run to pay more and have ample supplies, than to pay more still on a short supply market and stiil be deficient in the required wheat. The old saying that circumstances alter cases applies very pointedly to this wheat question, and on the whole the host appears to have been done under the difficult conditions which had to lx? faced.