PERILOUS LAWS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 331, 19 September 1932, Page 7

PERILOUS LAWS

CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE SUGGEST URGENT REPEAL. BOARD OF TRADE ACT. In view of the assurance of the Prime Minist'er that the Government does not intend to introduce any more drastic legislation this coming session, it would be appropriate if the Government divested itself of some of th'3 drastic powers that lurk in its inherit- i ed statutes (says a statement by the ; Associated Chambers of Commerce), i Chief among these is the Board of Trade Act,, which has actually been the subject of draft legislation that has not yet, however, seen the light of day. No Redress for Libel. Under this Act, the Minister of Industries and Commerce may exercise the most complete autocracy. He may hold a judicial inquiry or make an investigation into any matter whatsoever relating to any trade, business, profession or undertaking carried on for profit, for the purpose of obtaining information to control them. Such an inquiry must be conducted in private, but the Minister may publish anything h'e likes concerning it, and if in so doing he p'ublicly libels or defames any person, that person is denied any remedy. Further, the Minister may make re- j gulations for the etetablishment of j maximttm or minimum prices, or rates, j for any class of gods or services except wages or remuneration of em- ! ployees. In fact, the Minister is given j the absolute right to make regulations ; for the control, in any way he deems j necessary, of any trade, business, profession or undertaking whatsoever : carried on for profit. Such are the , extraordinary • powers bestowed by j this Act. j When the -mt was passed in 1919, 1 the people were gravely concerned at j the alarming rise in the cost of living, they were perplexed by post-war problems and incensed at instances of alleged profiteering that had occurred. Consequently, the Act had the support of the whole House. It is clear, however, from the Parliamentary speeches at the tinie, that the House was concerned with' the cost of living and the

suppression of profiteering, and the constitutional aspect of the Act received no consideration whatever hy Parliament. The Act was no doubt an honist attempt to cope with the problems of the times, but the methods adopted were arbitrary and dangerous in the extreme, and there is no reason whatever for retaining the measure any longer. Not a Dead Letter. It is not sufficient to treat the Act merely as a dead letter, because disuse does not make a law invalid. For that matter, the Act, far from having j fallen into desuetude, was used only recently to issue regulations prohibiting the erection of any new picture theatres uuless with the approval of the Minister — who has since exercised his power of prohibition in at least one town in New Zealand. The Act is a standing menace to trade and industry, which are further handicapped hy the strong deterrent effect of the Act on the inflow of overseas capital and the employment of local capital. The Act stands as a dire threat to all investors who might consider the launching of some new industrial enterprise, writh the result that they play safe by investing instead in Government bonds and local body debentures. This means that capital, instead of being profitably employed in production and in creating employment, is diverted into nonproductive investments that increase the national and local body debt. Again, when it is remembered that Government departments engage in many trading activities in competition with private concerns, it will he readily seen what use could be made of the by Government departments or officials, at the instance of a corrupt or unscrupulous Government, to crush a private trade rival. Great Britain rid herself of a similar measure two years after the war. Successive political leaders- in New Zealand have agreed that the Act is fraught with grave peril to the people, and legislation has been promised but has never appeared. The coming session provides one more opportunity to repeal this most objeetionable and highly dangerous measure that has subsisted upon more than a deeade of proerastination.