AND WHAT OF THE PUBLIC ?

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 172, 11 October 1927, Page 8

AND WHAT OF THE PUBLIC ?

PARLIAMENT in its wisdom last night decided that maim- * facturers were too altruistic to take advantage of favouring tariffs to exploit the public by raising prices under their protection. The Leader of the Opposition had moved to insert a clause in the Customs Bill to enable the Minister to reduce the duty on any item by an amount commensurate with any increase in price made by the manufacturers, and also to empower the Minister to reduce or abolish the duty on articles with which the manufacturers failed adequately to supply the market. The House rejected the clause, which the Minister of Agriculture designated a “Mussolini proposal, which would make the Minister a perfect dictator and put him in an impossible position.” It might truly be said that there have been occasions in the past when a benevolent dictatorship would have been a perfect godsend to tlie public, which in some instances was at the mercy of price-fixing that bled them white. This is a happier era; but while The Sun has consistently advocated protection for the manufacturer, it has not desired it at the cost of the consumer. New Zealand does not ctesire a tariff system which will enrich an unscrupulous few battening upon an unprotected public. The Minister of Customs says that legislative powers already in existence to some extent cover the clause proposed by Mr. Holland, and he refuses the responsibility of seeing that the public is not exploited. The Prime Minister condemns Mr. Holland’s proposal as “price-fixing,” and says that if the public interest is being “definitely” exploited, the Minister can take action under tlie existing Act. What is this “some extent” to which the public is already protected by legislation? If the Minister of Customs repudiates the responsibility of protecting the public, who, or -what, is to assume it? Certainly there is a Board of Trade that yet has some powers. The Prime Minister claims that it is functioning, but it appears to have functioned in a very somnolent mariner since the passing of the “profiteering years.” With the operation of the new tariff it may have to become very wide awake to “definite” exploitation, and perhaps there is a very present need for it to be aroused and overhauled so that it may be in working order when required. It is all very well to disclaim responsibility on the score of trouble, but. the Government has a duty to the public as well as to the manufacturer, and if it does not discharge that duty it will discover its protective tariff to be a two-edged sword.