PRIVATE ENTERPRISE.

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 17985, 2 April 1930, Page 2

PRIVATE ENTERPRISE.

DEMANDS FAIR FIELD. PRIME MINISTER’S SUPPORT. (Associated Chambers of Commerce.) A little more than a year ago—on February G, 1929. to be precise—a very large deputation of business and professional men, representative of all parts of the Dominion, waited upon Sir Joseph Ward, who two months previously had been installed in the oflice of Prime Minister in succession to the Right Hon. J. G. Coates, with a request that he would give effect, with all convenient speed, to the opinions he had expressed fiom time lo time concerning the unfair competition by State and local body undertakings 'with legitimate private enterprise. Case for the Deputation. Mr C. P. Agar, now the president of the Associated Chambers of Commerce of New Zealand, was the principal spokesman on behalf of the deputation, and having presented very lucidly the case against promiscuous State and local body trading, he submitted to Hie Minister the following .resolution adopted by the Nineteen Twentyeight .Committee, an organisation now absorbed by the Associated Chambers of Commerce; — ‘.‘This conference congratulates tue Government on the recent utterances of Cabinet Ministers definitely deprecating Government competition and interference with legitimate private trading and business and professional enterprise. It assumes from those utterances that there will he no fuluie extension of competition by Government departments in trading, and that Hie operations of such trading departments as have been shown to compete unfairly with the legitimate business of subjects of tiic Slate will be c.ui tailed and discontinued; also that where special control legislation and restrictive .regulations exist which destroy initiative and repress enterprise in the professions, industries and business concerns of the Dominion, without, any compensating advantage to the community, but to its commercial disadvantage, these will be repealed at an early date; and the conference assures the Government that it will give all assistance in preparing and forwarding information towaids ■ this end, if it is desired to do so. In conclusion Mr Agar expressed a hope that Sir Joseph Ward's very long association with business and his realisation of the need, and value.-oi individual cffdrt would ensure the country against the blighting influences •of unnecessary State interference with private enterprise.

Prime Minister’s Views. , In his' reply to Mr Agar's- represen- ■ latious the Prime Minister, m addition to endorsing the views expressed by tiie spokesman of the deputation, ie- ; l'erred briefly to observations of. his own on the subject. Ills personal feeling was, he said, that the Great Mar, and the new and grave problems it brought in its train, was largely icsponsible for the strange and difficult conditions that were besetting some ol the younger countries. He had been, comparatively lately, in ' the United Slates of America and in Canada, and from personal investigation and .inquiry in these countries he was driven to t; p conclusion that they were not suffering nearly so much from the aftermath of the war as were New Zealand and, of course, the Mother Country, in other countries he had mentioned there had been tremendous prosperity in their commercial life, and he was satisfied that New Zealand ■ whoever its rulers might be, would have to institute a policy of enterprise . and courage before it would definitely | (.tijov |lie measures of commercial security and general prosperity these other countries possessed. The Government might provide facilities tox.vards {hat end, but the. individual ! would have lo turn them to account, i candour and harmony between • Labour and Capital, the Minister went i on to say, were Hie prime factors towards a' prosperous nation. He was satisfied that many of the business people in New Zealand, for quite a long time, bad been suffering encroachments from one source or. another which were not in the best interests of Hie community. The Mother Country Pad been suffering in the same way, as the result of the war conditions, hut the people there had begun to realise that what may be. permissible, or even desirable in circumstances of emergency may be flagrantly undesirable when ’normal conditions were restored. He thought he might, without any impropriety, point to the incongruity of a man in business paying all the taxation that was going while some; State department close by in the same line of business paid neither income tax nor land tax, and traded on cheap State money. No one could make him believe that in any of the cities of New Zealand it was a fair thing for municipalities to compete against ratepayers in their own town when the municipalities paid no license, no income tax, no land tax, and no rates on the premises they occupied. Returning to tiie subject in a later part of his speech, Sir Joseph said he hoped, with Hie assistance of his colleagues, the members of all sections of the House, and the fair-minded public, to reach a solution o-f the problem in the near future. Government Committed. From all this it is obvious enough i that Sir Joseph Ward and his colleagues stand committed to legislation ■ which will give to legitimate private l enterprise protection from unfair i Stale and municipal activities. A Bill i towards this end was drafted during i last year’s session of Parliament, hut - Sir Joseph Ward’s illness stayed its 1 further progress. Presumably a fully ■ considered measure will be produced i during the approaching session. I Curiously enough a similar fate befel - a Bill of the same character prepared by Mr A. D. McLeod during the session > of 1928. Then the handy man of the > Reform Government, Mr McLeod had

wrestled with the intricacies of his measure for weeks on end, only to find, as”members of the House were hurrying away to their electorates, that there was no place for it on the Order Paper. Sir Joseph Wardis not likely to find Ids Bill delayed in this fashion or in any other fashion. He and his party stand committed, as Air Goales, his predecessor in 'office, does, to an equitable adjustment of the relations between State and municipal enterprise and private enterprise. New Zealand has loitered far to i long in returning to pre-war conditions in this respect. England, Canada, the United Stoics, and practically all Eastern European countries, have adjusted themselves In the conditions of a world at peace. New Zealand cannot afford In stand longer outside tills progressive circifi*