TOO MANY BOARDS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 381, 17 November 1932, Page 4

TOO MANY BOARDS

The Minister of Agriculture, the Hoiol. C. E. Macmillan, appears to be firmly possessed of the idea that the only means of correcting deficiencies in existing legislation, or in fact of getting anything done at all, is by setting up boards with their attendant myrmidons of inspectors and petty officialdom. He has already asked the House to agree to the setting up of a Poultry Registration Board with inspectors and officials to hover solicitously over the hen as it scratches for the matutinal breakfast, still later, he has proposed another | board and registration list to I deal with stock medicines, while I he has two further bills on the j stocks proposing the registration of tomato growers and stallions. j The honourable gentleman has not yet indicated whether boards will also be required to cherish the blushing tomato and soothe the champing steed. This enthus[iasm on the part of Mr. Mac- ; millan for the trappings of ofJ ficialdom has its humorous asI pects but it has also its serious | side. The extent to which this I eountry is enmeshed in the toils | of redtape and bureaucracy has ! already made itself painfully ap- ! parent and one of the purposes ; for which the National Expendi- | ture Commission was set up was j to whittle down this cloying j growth. The commission under- | took ifcs task with zeal and dealt , faithfully with many of the I boards and outcrops of officialdom which year by year have become an increasing charge upon the taxpayer — the man who in the long run must pay for all these expensive experiments. As we predicted, however, when the | report was first published, the : terms of very many of its recom- : mendations have proved so uni palatable to the politicians that iit appears probable that the | major portion of the report will be discreetly shelved and forgotten about with all reasonable despatch. At the present time, the official attitude towards the report from both sides of the House, is distinctly hostile and ! the^ indications are that its j major result will be an expenditure of approximately £2000 for ! preparation costs to be paid by ; j the general taxpayer. In addition to this, however, the Minister of Agriculture is apparently determined to burden the eountry with further boards all entitled to travelling fees and disbursements, and inspectors, all drawing salaries and expenses paid by the general public. The objects which Mr. Macmillan seeks to attain through his various new measures are in some instances necessary and justified but he is evidently determined to adopt the most cumbersome and expensive methods of carrying them into execution. For some time past, protection for farmers against quack stock remedies has been urgently required but it should be possible to give this protection without all the official machinery which Mr. Macmillan proposes should be set up. We can see no reason why this work should not be efficiently carried out by Mr. Macmillan's own department with some necessary additions of staff. The Department of Agriculture carries out inspecting work in various directions and with the facilities already existing, should be quite competent to handle the registration of stock medicines. The live-stock division of the department employs competent veterinarians and these officers should be competent to determine the nature and efficacy of the remedies subifiitted to them. The same remarks in a lesser degree apply to the other measures which Mr. Macmillan has submitted. Given the necessary extra staff, it should be possible for the department to handle poultry, stallion, and tomato registrations if " these things are considered necessary, without investing them in ail the

panoply of officialdom which the Minister proposes. The object of the Government, at the prespnt time, should be to minimise the growth of boards and the increasing army of State inspectors, and not to inerease them, at every pretext,