WOOL PRICES.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16288, 12 August 1918, Page 9

WOOL PRICES.

to '.hi; editor of "the tt.tlsz " Sir, —I have no timo for anonymous writers. When a man does not sign his name to a letter it is generally because ho is ashamod of what ho has written. I And no doubt that is tho troo reason for "She'epianncr" concealing his identity in his letter in your issue of 24th ult., to which my attention has just been drawn. I ao not kuow what iio means by '"doves being sent out of tne political ark." 31y appeal to tho farmers to devote tne proceeds of t-ticir surplus wool money lor tlm benelit of the-dependants of our brave sailors of tbo lloyal jN'avy and mercantile mariuo, who have lost their lives during tho war, has nothing whatever to do with politics, but it lias to do with tho honour and humanity of the people who have gained so mucu by the soii-sacri-fico of our seamen of both services. "Sheepfarmer" says "no one cares to sign, a blank cheque," and ''we woolgrowers are already making largo concessions towards war expenses inasmuch as the Imperial Government is paying us sixpence a pound less than they actually offered us, 1 ' and eo on. Poor "Shoepfarmarl" H,& thinks he is getting sixpence per lb less than ho should get; He is only getting 60 per cent, more than befoce the war. He must be carefulj he might give. a. bit: iV too touch to the'. Sailors' Jj'uiid, ho " thihks. It Might oomo to over o per cont. over pre-war prices. Does it ever Occur to "Sheepfarmer'' that while-he is Irvine in safety and comfort in New Zealand, making more money than he ever mado in his lifo before, that thousands of other men are leaving their families aad their businesses, giviifg their lives, without counting tho cost, to keep him, amongßt others safe from the Hun? What sort of a cheque does he think the boys sign when they go "over the top," and dash into a hell of destruction, where death is almost a certainty, or tho raon starting on an. expedition like the Ostend-Zecbrnggo affair, or that sailors "signing on" for a voyage: to" Netr Zealand and back to brmg precious wool to London, for which he says he has received "gaxpence" tiro little? All 2 cui eaf is, it is pitiful that, there aro men so selfish, and so absorbed in money-making, that at a tim» l&o this tliejr can say lik© "Sbeepfarmer" that ; it }s "necessary to look at both sides of .sixpence before they part with it." after stating that ho does not know Mr Newman—which, is 6ilrely : his fault not mino, because I Biga my name to letters wJwfi Iwrito .them—'hints that I am one of those who would, earn a name for generosity at other people's expense. Well, tkafc is the sort; of insinuation that is not worth answering, but I may say for "Sheepfarmer's" information that I havo made my living from growing for over thirty years, and I know, as well as he dogs, that never beforo during that lon& period have woolgroivcrs got as good . returns from their sheep as they havo done 6ince the war Began. The majority of Bheepfarmers acknowledge! this, and I am pleased to say that from all parts of the Dominion, and all classes of woolgrowers, I have ffeceived assurances that they will cladl? give their surplus profits to tho-fund for sailors' dependants. May I add ail extract from a letter that I have just received from Sir Walter Buchanan, a woolgrtwer respected from tie North Capo to tho Bluff, ond I ass the farmers of Canterbury to compare it with "ShoepfarmerV letter, and act accordingly. I do not proposo to continue this correspondence. ,and would not havo started only that I feared that tho Sailors' Fund might suffer, from "Shcepfarmor's I '' comments on the scheme. —Yours, etc., . EDWARD NEWMAN. (Oor correspondent encloses an extract from a letter in which Sir Walter Buchanan warmly supports Mr Newman's proposal, saying:—"ln this district, as well as all over the Dominion, I fee] aire that every sottler without exception will back Jou up + o thc h)lVand I cannot see ow ♦•ho Goiernmflttt could refuse their hearty oottsonV' 7 —Ed. "The Press") % -