DICTATORSHIP

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24410, 23 September 1940, Page 6

DICTATORSHIP

A curtailment of the liberty of individuals and of firms and companies is to be looked for in a time of war. The principle is that the whole energies of the State shall be directed to the prosecution of the war and that the rights and privileges of the people must be subject to certain restraints, the absence of which might be attended by some weakening of the national effort and be inconsistent with a policy that places the whole resources, of the country at the disposal of the Empire. The principle is one to which, as long as it is rightly applied, no exception can possibly be taken by reasonable persons. Here in New Zealand the restrictions that have been imposed have undoubtedly proved exceedingly irksome in many cases, but they have as a whole been loyally accepted even where it is apparent that they have become necessary through the short-sighted-ness and extravagance of the Government itself. There is not likely, however, to be an unquestioning acceptance of a novel ukase which has been issued, under the war regulations, by the Controller of Electricity. Even a city council, it would seem, is, if this official has his way, not to be master in its own house. For no apparent reason other than that the Government has drawn an artificial salary line above which a cost of living bonus shall not be paid, the electric power authorities throughout the country must also withhold the bonus from those of their employees whose salaries exceed a certain amount. The question whether there should be a flat rate of increase of all salaries or whether the increase should apply to only the lower-paid employees of these authorities is arguable. It is, however, a question which sinks into insignificance beside the fact that a Government official has intimated his determination to override the decisions of those municipal authorities and power boards that have decided that all the members of their staffs shall participate in the increased payments. To most people it will occur that the object is that of saving the. face of the Government; it would be only by a< violent straining of the imagination that it could be related to a war measure. But the .action-of the Electricity Controller strikes a direct blow at the right-of these local bodies to manage their business as in the exercise of their judgment, they think fit. It involves an intolerable interference with the conduct of the local government system and a threat of the extension of the bureaucracy which is in existence to purposes that have no connection with the war effort.