GOVERNMENT IN BUSINESS

Hokitika Guardian, 4 September 1928, Page 4

GOVERNMENT IN BUSINESS

BY WAY OF CONTROL. HAMPERED INDUSTRY?

(Nineteen-Twenty-Eight Committee.) There is an urgent cry .in Auckland and in tho Iyauri Gum Districts of the Far North for the abolition of the Control Board which holds absolute authority over the gum industry throughout the wide area placed under its jurisdiction. The Act ot' Parliament constituting the Board gives that body power to assume control of the operations of any individual or company engaged in tlie industry and to levy a charge of three-quarters per cent upon the exportable value of any gam sent out of the country. It is rumoured that an effort is being made to have this levy increased to one and a-lialf per cent, hut representations have been made to tlie Government on tbo subject which should prevent further tribute being exacted from the unfortunate diggers, upon whom all such taxation must ultimately fall. The truth of the matter is that the Board, so far from being of assistance to tho industry has been an irksome drain upon its resources and a constant threat to its very existence. CAPITAL ALARMED.

Individuals, and companies alike have suffered heavily from the inept policy and administration cf the Board—as most individuals and companies that have, come under the dictation of such bodies have done —but one organisation in the North, according to its own testimony, has managed, in spite of persistent official interference, not only to keep its head above water, but also to make very material progress. This concern stepped into what was generally regarded as a dying industry, but it has done so well in spite of adverse conditions that it now has an opportunity to bring overseas capital into its venture, and so provide for the continuous employment of a much larger volume of labour than it is maintaining at the present time. But this is an obstacle in the way of the investment of' this capital. One of the clauses in the Act just mentioned provides that the Control Board, at such time and in such manner as it may please, may take over any concern of the kind that attracts it fancy. Overseas capital, ii is scarcely necessary to say, is not available for investment in perilous adventures of this nature. FREEDOM REQUIRED. The company that is holding so tenaciously to the potentialities (if the Northern gum fields is not abandoning all hope of being freed from the incubus under which it is labouring. “We specialise,” the manager says, “ in producing a gum that enables manufacturers to standardise their manufactures. ho they linoleum, varnish, or gramophone records. The article is superior. Seventy per cent of the output is chip gum. Recent analysis shows that the resin content is 97.(17 per cent., with a dirt residue of 2.-11! per cent. . . To arrive at this very high standard it was necessary in the first stages to lay out much money in experimental work. In addition the | Company expended a large sum in developing its property, in plant and tools, and in an extensive tramway! system.” And now. it seems, this en-1 terprisihg concern is at the mercy of a Board which may play ducks and I drakes with its shareholders’ property ' and at the present moment is seeking to double a levy which already far exceeds the legitimate needs of the situation. The Government may be trusted to turn a deaf car to such a preposterous proposal, hut it also should sec that the industry and its promoters are relieved of all liavrassing regulations and given every possible assistance in developing the remaining gum fields along sound business lines. Wellington, August 30, 1923.