Freedom From Restrictions Advocated By National Party Branch Chairman

Taupo Times, Volume XIV, Issue 39, 20 May 1965, Page 3

Freedom From Restrictions Advocated By National Party Branch Chairman

Addressing the annual meeting recently of the Taupo junior branch of the New Zealand National Party, the chairman, Mr J. G. Painter, stated that private enterprise in a free society has long been one of the basic principles of New Zealand's entire way of life and social progress. He said this following a question concerning the balance of Government and private enterprise. "In New Zealand andi elsewhere in the world, | wherever free enterprise J has been allowed to prosper, it has engendered fresh vigour and vitality to the economy of the country, increased the rate of growth, and given people more in-i centive to fully express their personal initiative and results; at the same time /

giving a chance to express the desire for freedom for which we free people have fought so long," he said. "It has put us in the picture to share our talents with those of other countries and other economies, and this has proved to be more so than any other system that has been so far evolved. "It can readily be understood that, without free private enterprise, there can neither be free labour nor free Government, and if anyone forgets this they ought to remember that they are engendering a direct danger to individual freedom. "Free private enterprise does not mean lack of all restraints or the doing away and absence of responsible Government. What it does mean is that there should be a freedom from restrictions controls and repressions, and more important from the constant interference of the Government into the normal conduct of people's private and business activities. "A private enterprise system to be effective must have the co-operation of the Government which should be more than ever vigilant of individual rights. If and when the Government stops working with private enterprise toward common goals and does its best instead to dominate such private enterprise and considerably extend its powers as a Government, then private enterprise and all that that system represents is in dire danger. "Government and private enterprise must work together as if they were partners if we are to get anywhere with business progress in New Zealand, and the New Zealand business community, whether they be farmers, manufacturers, carriers or merchants, has a very important duty to see that at all 4imes the public appreciates the essential values of the system of free, private, competitive enterprise, which is absolutely essential for the achievement of economic and social advancement."