LABOUR'S BREAD SCHEME.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 68, 20 March 1915, Page 10

LABOUR'S BREAD SCHEME.

CTo the- EHltot.) • ■ Sir, —Hhe correspondence columns of your paper make interesting reading, if only for the diversity of views on questions of importance to the general public. Opinions differ, and every mam is presumably entitted fco his , own lopinkm, ibu-t it is not often that one is privileged to have euCh eet out in such language as is contained in a letter in yesterday'e issue under ttoe above heading. On the •qw side we. have Mr. \V. J. BeU, and on the ■other Mr. Hall, a member of the New Gauth Waies Gioverament, and Atborney-Gsae-rjil to boot, and we are rnifoxmed that an eooffomac soheme of bhie etotesman is "on« of the most farcical," "tra'Cispairent nibbiiElh," and so ion, very much ad nauseam. There then follows what wuT coTxespondent mo doubt sincerely believes ie a-eomple-te-pulveriea-tirm of the sehieme, but -js eimply - &■ statement intended to show' that the fKfaWJßhrogrt of a would titro»-4mndradß otrtof. work <wiUhouU-cgr-

) but Mr. Bell's zeal has carried him co I far -that one can only gaep'at -the nroltiitude he evokes. "Hundrede of roaeterJ'bakeiß" in Auckland, every master hater (having one to twenty cairts, hundreds of • ibook-keepruß, fcwn&redeof Whop aswetantß, iJinminedß of wuteifbe drivers —the-brain ''ireete. - .""" ----.-- . — - ■ I It would take up too much space to deal in detail with Mr. Bell's eoonomic view ptmrft*, euoh ac fbey ore, but ac -tins scheme of State bakeries s!»oukl be of widespread interest -m. tike face of the -high cost of living, I'suggest' to him that a. Jarge proportion of' tbjree liundnude would add -to •the-wealth of .the country by becoming prodooerii. As it tb, they consume this wealth, aire, in fact,' unnecessary middlemen, whom it is the aim of the true political economist to eliminate from *he eooraJ scheme. There are many who inave. more time and knowledge tihan the writer to enlighten Mr. Bell, and I shaU hop to find in youT columm letters whiah wili be botlh in'heresting and instructive on a very vi-tal question of eoonomice.—l am, etc, ROBERT MACAIRE. (To the Editor.l Six—Mr. W. J. Bell writes in terms of unmeasured , scorn -of- Hi's- enterprise of the New South Waftes Dabomr-Soeialiet Government in ' establishing State bakeries -to supply bread to the public at a price lower than 'that charged by private oompetitare. -It-is generally unwiee to condemn the economic thearirti of those with wdroiu you disagree in eueh terms as "tranepaTent rubbish," and it is certainly incorrect to skate Hhat "winen examined and analysed fiwm all economic viewpointe" . the_ soheme _ "Mb one of the m>oßt ; "farciteal "ever attempted to be palm-ed off on g-uH-ibJe humans." Though Mr. BelJ is willing to assume that the. echeme may be successful in avoiding wasteful expenditure, and tfliue will benefit tene thouEands of consamare directly, he comtende that it will dp as much (harm as good, and implies that it wiii do mare, by throwing out of employment a oertain number of those employwl by- the private bakierice, and •reducing T*be work of coachbuiMers, adveritasement vw 'rtwra, and others. Put plainly, he believes that it is better that »-large number of persons should perform a certain ©orvice in a muddling fefehion rather than a. small number efljcieatly. ; Suppose that 5000 pensonu hai-e been •employed in the. work, that it will fflSw be-doee by. 1000. .If the 4000 thrown out of employment sit down and fold ■their hands, lihe net result wiJl be the gain to every consumer of bread balanced again-st the lose -and suffering of the 4000. But will tliey do co? Surely the majority of these 4000 wiH eifchor gain- fresh employment eIK-swbare.-perhaps at a Bljgtttjy lower wage. ot. at the least, do come pnoductive work in their own gardens; we may, witih aesuredneeß, calculate that at the "teast they wiS, between them, prodiice the equivalent of 2000 men's iabour; and this is all of it net gain" <fir the -pre- < exieting conditions. In the conditKßiß Mr. Bell upltolde, 5000 man are doing the work of 1000: th-e new conditions they are doing that of 3000. The outcome of i£r. Bell's theories ie -fihat it; is for the good of .the people that all work should be parformed as wastefuUy as pot»tble. Ths ease "for State interfexence is really mucli stronger than this, as the State can, if it chw»gs, direotly employ tine 4000 on some other enterprises, but i I -wild not pursue this suggestion, for unteßS mv ana/lysis Is utterly invalid it may «ugge* <toVMx-. Bell = -thsit. tlvexe arv economic viewpoints from which Erjch schemes aire oeither frairdu!«nt iror contemptible.—l am, etc., ...... M. C. IRVESE.