WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 29 March 1926, Page 4

WELLINGTON TOPICS

GOVERNMENT in business,

PRIME MINISTER STILL CONSIDERING.

(Special to “ Guardian.”)

WELLINGTON, March 20.

Tlic oiieu deputation which waited upon him on Tuesday in support ol representations that had been made to him by representatives ol' coinmerfin! nml iiiiniif*is*l interests runic nun\ with no definite assurance ol the early withdrawal ol' the Government from any of its trading enterprises. The most emphatic passages of the Minister’s reply to Mr A. Macintosh’s very lucid exposition of the ease for less Government were reserved lor an assertion that the Government entertained no idea of handing over the State railways. Stale insurance. State trust office. and similar State utilities to private enterprise, in this, ot course, he was somewhat, hogging the question. No one has suggested seriously that the Government should abandon the great national co-operative undertakings in which the State has been engaged for half a century. The most that has been suggested in this direction is that State trailing should he fair trading, and this point has been readilv conceded by Mr (oates inmself. lint the Prime Minister is not vet rem.lv with his relorms —he must first, he says, lie firmly seated in the saddle—and meanwhile the advocates of still more Govei'nn'om in business are making wlmt capital they can out of the. delay. A CASE IN POINT.

Mr William Grounds, the chairman of tho Dairy Hoard, and. as he probably would like to he styled, the lather of •‘absolute eontrol.” unite naturally seized upon I lie opening afforded him hv the Prime Minister to push his own capacious harrow. In a statement furnished to the newspapers yesterday, he declared, in ell'eet. that the leader of the denutation, who had quoted toe application ol “absolute control to the dairy industry as a menace to the whole eomnnmiiy. had heen unable when challenged hv the Minister of Agriculture lo adduce a tittle ol evidence in support of his assertion. “What and where is the danger in compulsory control;-’’ he represented the Minister as asking, and then added

■ • the leader of the ilemilntion was unable to explain the danger and could only say it was a matter ol opinion.” The hoard, as the guardians of the industry’s welfare. Mr Grmiud’s went on to say. was more concerned, perhaps, even than the deputation to see there was no danger to its luture prosperity. Ids purpose, he added, significantly. was to save the producers from the speculator, from unregulated dumping and from the man who depressed the market to l>uv and inflated it to sell. “AN UNWARRANTABLE ASSUMPTION." In the ‘‘Dominion" this morning Mr Mclntosh, with a great deal less warmth than would have heen excused, denounces Mr Grounds’ statement that lie hail heen unable fo answer Mr Ilawken’s interjected challenge a- an unwarrantable assumption. Me had answered the challenge helore it was spoken and in his opening remarks had indicated in plain language the dangerous principles involved in compulsion. It was not necessary to repeat flic words Mini had been addressed lo the Prime Minister for the sole henelif of his somnolent colleague. ■‘With regard to the rest of Mr Groumls’s interview." Mr Macintosh, says. “in which he implies that the hoard is acting for the producers as a whole, ami introducing a policy desired by them rather than using compulsion. I would ask him whether even his’ hoard is unanimous on this subject,. I We know from the papers that the producers are far from, showing 'lm. unanimity which imiilic. his policy, . j

. . Voluntary organising an,l cnmbiua l ion. no one can quarrel with, bill this is just what is not going to Ijo allowed to I lie imlividmil producer. Compulsion destroys all private liberty of action, hence its danger.” So lor Mr Macintosh appears to have rather this better of the argument into which he has been drawn bv his impetuous critic. TAKING NO RISKS. Rul this apparently is not a qiie-tion 1. lm; is going to be settled by wrangling between the principles. A majoriiv of llie opponents ol absolute control are liiiiliug no encouragement in the reports of the various interviews with the Prime Minister. Mr Macintosh put the ease for postponement and reconsideration very clearly and logically before Mr Contes and his colleagues, but lie did not appear to make a great deal of impression upon tho Ministers. Mr Coates probably said a great deal less than was ill Ids mind, and he may have had good reason for withholding his views on the question for the present : hut the deputation on its part was sent away with only cold comfort. In these circumstances it is not surrisiug to learn that the Free Marketing League, which really is the executive of the dissenting producers, is demanding. in addition to the ward system of election to the Dairy Hoard, a referendum on the question of absolute, eontrol. which, of course, never has heen submitted to the suppliers. Failing these concessions the last resort of the League may be an appeal to the law courts, and this, according to high legal authorities, would be fraught with many probabilities for these protestants.