STRONG WORDS USED

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1076, 13 September 1930, Page 6

STRONG WORDS USED

STATE INTERFERENCE WITH ENTERPRISE HAMILTON MEN ROUSED Prom Our Own Correspondent HAMILTON, Friday. Strong words were used by members of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce last evening to describe State interference and competition with private “One direction in which Chambers of Commerce might do some good is by hammering at tho Government to force the State enterprises to pay the same rates and taxes as private enterprise.” remarked Air. C. B. Smith. There was no reason why the wealth of tho country should not all bear an equivalent ratio of taxation. The bigger the proportion of wealth freed from taxation, the greater the load that must be borne by the rest. If State enterprises were taxed, they would be shown up in their rottenness, and people would not support them. He cited the case of the power boards, which he said were defrauding revenue by giving back to the consumer power at a lower cost. These boards paid no rates or taxes, but private companies supplying power and light were taxed very heavily. Air. N. H; Hooker said that dotted all over tire country were expensive Government buildings paying no rates to local bodies. Half the space in these buildings was cither empty or let privately. Air. Smith: It’s a damned scandal. All*. Hooker considered the Government should invite Sir Otto Niemeyer to extend the scope of the inquiry. The Government was very firm on the limited nature of the investigation. Personally, the speaker did not think New Zealand’s position was much better than that of Australia.