1941: New Zealand Standards Council
December 21, 2020
By AHNZ
The New Zealand Standards Institute, today known as Standards New Zealand, has had three ‘Standards Mark’ logos that I have been able to find. It is, and has always been, an attempt by Central Government to control those who may be productive in society by being the arbiter of whose goods and services meet “standards.”“An ACT to promote Standardization [sic] in relation to Commodities, Processes, and Practices, and for that Purpose to provide for the Establishment of a Standards Council and to define its Powers and Functions”- Standards Act 1941, nzlii.org
It’s hard to find out too much about its history. Government agencies prefer to keep a low profile or, if possible, no profile at all. This particular scam started off as a Labour 1.0 scheme in 1941, sponsored by Minister Dan Sullivan. However it had to be put on hold for the War, only to be re-constituted afterwards¹.
“…..the appointment of twenty-five members, representing the New Zealand Manufacturers’ Federation, Associated Chambers of Commerce of New Zealand, New Zealand Federated Builders’ and Contractors’ Industrial Union of Employers, New Zealand Institute of Architects, New Zealand Institution of Engineers, New Zealand Institute of Chemistry, New Zealand Retailers’ Federation, Federated Farmers of New Zealand, Municipal Association of New Zealand, National Council of Women, Women’s Division of Federated Farmers of New Zealand,Dominion Federation of New Zealand Women’s Institutes, New Zealand Federation of Labour, Commissioner of Works, Stores Control Board, Post and Telegraph Department, New Zealand Railways, Department of Industries and Commerce, and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.”- Groups awarded a Ring of Power to decide Standards, all subservient to One Ring to Rule Them All, of course; Ref. STANDARDS COUNCIL ANNUAL REPORT (1947)
How did Labour 1.0 get New Zealand business to sign up to this Star Chamber in the first place? In the beginning, it was comprised of a council of 25 interested groups. In the clamber to be part of who decides what is sub-standard, opposition was surely left behind. Who wants to be on the wrong side of such a powerful body by speaking out against it? Then, having become a fixture of our State, the Standards Council was turned into a Standards Board under the thumb of the Central Government of the day (That’s how you boil a frog: Slowly, until by the time it starts to hurt it has become too late for the fatigued frog to be able to escape.)
This body has, I’m sure, been a political football between our Feudal Lords ever since. It was most recently reformed for the benefit of National 5.0 in 2015 from whence comes the latest logo.
Free New Zealanders are perfectly capable of setting their own standards without a Nanny State to oversee it. We can review our own movies, we can source our own ratings (eg Yelp) for products and places that meet our standards of safety and price and quality. If we don’t like a newspaper or commentator for the reviews he gives then we can switch to another. Government tries to take this role over, taking control for itself for what is ‘standard’ or ‘sub-standard’. In so far as it succeeds, it supplants a perfectly democratic use of knowledge in society with another one that is controlled by politicians. This only dulls the minds of consumers because they lose their ability to judge good products, believing, as they are told to, that only Government could do that.
Government also picks winners. By handing out a Crown standard or denying it, some businesses will be given a prestige subsidy over others. If you’re a little guy trying to produce something in New Zealand you might not be able to pull strings or pay fees to get the Standards Mark Licence. But, the big and wealthy established firms will be able to hold on to their market share thanks to a little political help. Monopoly is only made possible due to government interference.
Anarkiwi gives Standards New Zealand an Ancap Rating of 0/10.
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1 STANDARDS COUNCIL ANNUAL REPORT (1947); National Library NZ
Ref. Standards New Zealand; Gov. website
Ref. Standards New Zealand; Wiki
Ref. also 1955: New Zealand Honey Marketing Authority; AHNZ
Ref. also 1985: Free Market Honey; AHNZ
Image ref. 3 Logos of the Standards Council/Standards New Zealand. The earliest one (left) comes from a stamp for the Holland’s Christchurch Mechanical Works. Holland Snr was a mayor and MP, Holland Jr was Prime Minister. So, no problem for them getting this useful hook-up from The State
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Anarchist History of New Zealand: One of the functions of artists in a community is to provide a healthy and permanent element of rebellion; not to become a species of civil servant. - J.K.Baxter
This blog is so stupid, yes products should have to comply with minimum standards
Why do you feel you need The State to set your standards and punish you for not meeting them?
To protect consumers and the wider public from dangerous, unsafe and inferior products.
Everyone wants that. But why is it you insist again that this can only be achieved by Centralised Control of commerce? Why not at a provincial level or some local level? Why from Wellington? Why not from the United Nations? Or why not let China tell us what is dangerous or unsafe or inferior?
Instead of us looking out for ourselves why should we need The State in any form to tell us what we can eat, smoke, watch, wear? It’s so paternalistic having The Safety Police to do for us what we could be doing for ourselves and our families.
Do you know who drives the adoption of safety standards (hint: one of the first, and largest safety testing laboratories is called UNDERWRITERS Laboratories)? Fires caused by faulty electrical equipment can spread to destroy an entire multi-resident building, an entire city block, or neighborhood. It is protection of CAPITALIST interests that standards are developed. Yelp reviews can be astroturfed to bury the “burned down my house the first time I used it” reviews. The “little guy” would stand no chance at all. This post reads like a paranoid screed.