PATRIOTISM IN EXCELSIS.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 208, 2 September 1919, Page 8

PATRIOTISM IN EXCELSIS.

(To the Editor.) Sir,—The Imperial Government had . entered 'into contracts with many Bel- < fast firms for the (manufacture of linen , for aeroplanes. After the armistice m . November last the Government found it t had no use for all the linen it had on its . hands—too much to know what to do , with. The Government appealed to , many manufacturers to relieve it of its , •sontraßt obligations, -which tod been , signed for deliveries for many months to . come. Numerous 'manufacturers met , the Government's appeal and. relieved , it of its obligations. Belfast, however, was obdurate. The linen manufacturers : of Ulster insisted that tihe terms of tiltt. ■ bond must be fulfilled. As fast, therefore, as the Belfast' mills were able to produce the linen, the Government was compelled to buy it. This went on from : November until ".May, the full six months after the armistice. The Government stores were overflowing. The Government, in a quandary, sought to recover some of their loss on the linen, and offered to sell the linen in sixty-yard : lengths at seven shillings a yard. From the point of view of the Government and the taxpayer, the purchase of this vast quantity of linen was sheer waste. The li nen was then decried in value; the Go veirnment asserted that the report was traced to Belfast. The Government had 40,000,000 yards of this linen on its hands and -had "disposed of 300.000 yards, when disparaging reports stopped further sales. Belfast manufacturers now offered to buy back the whole lot at 3id per yard; the Government had asked •seven shillings a yard. After much haggling Belfast advanced its offer to sixpence, and finally to a shilling a yard. The Government declined. Mr. J. L. Martin, a London man. connected with the Associated Manufacturers' Company offered two shillings a yard; the Government accepted it. "I acted in this matter," said Mr. Martin, "from motives of patriotism, for I consider the way Belfast has treated the Government in this matter is a scandal." The Government had bought the whole Irish flax crop for £12,000,000, equivalent to £40 an acre, sixteen times the pre-war price. Mr. Martin now controls the textile market to the detriment of the industry in Great Britain and Ire-rand, and out of the deal it is said 'he will make over two million pounds. - For this trouble Belfast manufaeturesrs are responsible, and their next move will no doubt be to impress upon the British Empire their great love and loyalty for it, provided, as in this case, their love and loyalty fill their pockets. —I am, etc., JUSTITIA.