NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 52, 25 November 1929, Page 10

NOTES OF THE DAY

The hot certainties at the starting barrier often fall, to the rear as the race of life is run. As Meredith has it: “Ah! What a dusty answer gets the soul when hot for certainty in this our life.” No doubt Mr. Oliver Baldwin, son "of the ex-Prime Minister, imagines he is backing a certainty in Socialism. But his earnestness, when he asked his question about “the distribution of wealth,” succeeded only in moving the House of Commons to “the loudest laughter heard for many days.” Even the once intractable Mr. Ramsay MacDonald joined in the uproarious mirth. So also did Mr. Oliver Baldwin's father. • Mr. Stanley Baldwin has a mellow wisdom that has carried him past the easy lure of Socialism. He has also the breadth of mind and the humour to laugh with the House at his son’s hot certainties. Perhaps he remembered the saying that a man who is not a Socialist before he is 25 has shown he has no heart, and a man who is a Socialist after he is 25 has shown he has no head. * * * *

The big merger in the British margarine trade, particulars of which are announced to-day, is a reminder to the Dominion that we have powerful rivals in the dairy trade. It is also an incentive to' maintain the highest standards in our butter exports. By so doing, butter can easily maintain its hold in the market at its present premium over margarine. The natural product will have the preference over the manufactured compound so long as it is worth the* difference in price. The consumer’s palate and purse must decide that point. In the appeal to the palate -dairy producers can o'btain a favourable - verdict by seeking to add flavour and freshness to quality. So far as the money motive goes, margarine itself applies the corrective, by its substitute value, to soaring prices. Dairy producers now, however, appreciate this fact, and prefer a steady market at reasonable prices (such as ruled last season) to the see-saw and instability of some previous years. The main thing is not to force butter to such a premium that more consumers get the “margarine habit."

Once again there are reports from the country that labour is being attracted from the farms to Government relief works for unemployed. Specific instances were quoted at a meeting of the Wellington Provincial Executive of the Farmers’ Union. In one case a ploughman has left a permanent job to do afforestation work, and in another a farmer has to milk 70 cows single-handed because he cannot get help. An end must be made immediately of this state of affairs. The Minister of Labour should at once frame stringent regulations which will prevent men’s engagement on relief works when they have voluntarily left private employment. It is the gravest indictment of the present irresponsible policy that the farmer should suffer from labour shortage in the busy producing season while the Government finds jobs for five or six thousands men on relief works.