PEOPLE LURED

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20953, 4 November 1939, Page 9

PEOPLE LURED

STATE SOCIALISM POLITICIAN IN COMMAND MR R. M. ALGIE’S ATTACK (Special to Times) WHAKATANE, Friday Step by step the people had been induced, lured or forced into the enfolding and ever-tightening arms of State socialism, declared Mr R. M. Algie, director of the New Zealand Freedom Association, in his address at the mass protest meeting in Whakatane to-day. The first great bribe had been the tempting bait of the guaranteed price, a system which had been made to change its spots on several occasions, and which had at all times tended to squeeze the farmer between the ceiling of a fixed price and the moving escalator of rising costs. Then came the Reserve Bank Act, which forced the private citizen out of his position as a shareholder and left the Government in undisputed mastery of the field. “Lust For Experimentation” One or two checks remained to curb the lust for experimentation which has been a feature or the last few years; the advice of experts had still to be given due weight and attention, and not more than four one pound notes could be issued for every one pound of liquid and gold reserve. To-day the voice of the expert had been stilled by law and its place taken by the raucous and more selfconfident tones of the politician. The statutory restriction upon the power of printing money had been swept away and the power to borrow upon the security of the people’s goods had become unlimited. “We have reached the stage now,” said Mr Algie, “in which we run the very grave risk of having our national monetary policy shaped for us by political considerations in preference to the sounder and well-tried principles of banking and economics.” There would be many, of course, who would dispute this, but one could learn much of the future by a study of the past. During the months immediately before the election, the steady deterioration in our Reserve Bank funds must have been wellknown to our political leaders. It was certainly very obvious to plenty of other people. Yet, because it was election year, the position was glossed over and we were told that all was well, that the situation had never been better. Change of Tune Immediately the election was over, however, and when the spenders were back in the saddle for another term, then we were at once told that our position amounted to a condition of emergency and that in order to meet it severe import restrictions would be required. If importers and their employees were to suffer meanwhile, that would be unfortunate but it would be just a part of the price which they would have to pay for the introduction of the “brighter day of Socialism.” It was beautiful for the planners: They could shift their ground a little and begin another glorious experiment. It was not quite so pleasant for the owner of a business and for the members of his staff. “But,” concontinued Mr Algie, “it has always been the policy of the Socialist to divide and rule, to tackle the community separately and by units, to eliminate the small man first and to reserve the bigger man for treatment at a later date.” “Misuse of Political Power” Referring to broadcasting, Mr Algie pointed out that the administration of this service had at all times been a bare-faced misuse of political power. A popular service maintained by fees collected from the people had been employed to further the aims and policy of the party in power and there never had been a time during Labour’s rule at which the actions of the Government regarding broadcasting could be described as scrupulously just and impartial. Disregarding the Laws The practice of ruling New Zealand by the issue of decrees and Orders-in-Council had been carried to extremes. Discretionary powers had been conferred upon State departments which could not be reviewed in the law courts. The Goveminent had not hesitated to break through statutory provisions and had appointed several persons to important positions in flagrant defiance of long-standing Acts of Parliament. How could such a Government expect to engender a feeling of respect for law, when it was prepared to appear before the people as the leading exponent of the practice of disregard for law? It could be said that in any matter directly affecting Government policy, the citizen no longer possessed any legal rights of a real and substantial kind in any dispute as between himself and a Government department. That was in itself a shocking state of affairs. Government by bureaucratic discretion was an unsafe and an unsavoury substitute for the rule of law. Pure Socialism No one would pretend that the system embodied in the Industrial Efficiency Act was introduced as a means of raising the standard of living in this country. Its aim was pure socialisation and it could be safely asserted that one of its effects would be to endanger the moral tone of business and commercial life. We had reached an impossible and an intolerable position when a Government in a British community could tell a group of traders in the fishing or transport industry that they must reduce their numbers from say ten to three or take the consequences. What could be dictated to one industry could be imposed upon another; and what could happen in Auckland or in Hawke’s Bay could occur in any locality or town in any part of the Dominion. Patriotic Purposes Funds Authority to open imprest accounts in each of the nine zones in the Auckland Province was given at a meeting of the Auckland Provincial Patriotic Council in the Hamilton municipal chambers last night. The grants made by the council ranged from £25 to £IOO.