THE TREND OF SOCIALISM

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 86, 10 November 1939, Page 4

THE TREND OF SOCIALISM

Sir, —The addresses given on Thursday evening by Professor Algie and Mr A. J. Sinclair were enlight- , enin'g in that they disclosed an inadequacy of the return to dairy farmers. Most dairy farmers are. \ agreed on that, but the difficulty Is as to how the full return is to * }}£ .obtained, Mr Sinclair blamed the constricting nature of the Labour organisation.. However in the first (.year of the guaranteed price, the farmer received £227,000 over the amount paid by the consumers, which 'was paid for by the people of New Zealand. In the second and third years, there is a deficit of about £2,000,000 which the people of New Zealand r have advanced the farmery through the Dairy Industry Account at the Reserve Bank. Mr Sinclair established a good * case that the farmer was not get-# ting the cost price for his products, but seemed to evj'de the issue as to how the difference between the mar ket price and the producer's cost price was to be obtained to the producer. It appeared as if he expected that the people of New Zealanfd s ho u 1 d be taxed to make up this difference, but avoided saying so as this would alienate the suonort of the public. Mr Sinclair drooped one remark which he could have carried farther, that the dairy farmers were being robbed —"T say deliberately that the dairy farmer has been robbed." Most people, who have thought into this matter, will agree that this is so, but who is the robber and where is the loot? It is also mentioned in the resolutions that were moved—"The ever increasing costs piled upon industry," "Business costs are mounting." All very, very true, but if the -speakers arid the movers of the resolutions would investigate "costs," they would find the robber. Costs are made up of labour costs and interest costs. Labour costs have in the past been cut in order to remedy this evil, and disaster resulted. Interest costs are mounting everywhere, but none of the speakers touched on this. It has been estimated that, at the present time, at least one third of the costs of production generally, is absorbed by interest,, and interest's share Is growing every year, and labour's share is decreasing. Some day the farmers as w T ell as other producers' will realise that he has been robbed—'"deliberately robbed." He will look for the robber and find that the robber is not the labour action. Is there a ray of hope in Professor Algie's statement that, . in the very near future, he would put forward "some constructive alternative?" Yours etc., ' HERE'S HOPING.