TOPICS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 139, 12 June 1912, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY

♦ A very helpful witness, Mr. C. H. En- ' sor, a well-known farProducers mer of North Canterand bury, came before the • Consumers. Cost of Living Commission at Christchurch on Monday. "The great factor in the cosi; of living," he Baid, "was the cost of distribution," and he gave an eXample—wheat which left the producer at 3s 6d a bushel and reached the consumer with that price doubled. In his reference to the huge coßt of-dißtribution, ' due to the increasing disproportion between "producers" and "non-producers" in a country which depends vitally on the primary industries, Mr. Ensor is virtually in agreement with Dr. M'llraith, a competent economist of Christchurch, whose book on "The Course of Prices in New Zealand" was recently reviewed in The Post. The general result of this investigator's patient research over a long period of years — 1861 to 1910 — was .that the wholesale' or producers' prices for conimodities described as • "necessaries" coidd not account for an increase in the cost of living. Unfortunately, he was not able to show the contrasts between retail and wholesale prices. "It is impossible," he wrote, "to obtain a series of pricelists so continuous that one can get from them a reliable and uninterrupted record of prices (retail)." It so hapSiens that New Zealand people arokeeay desirous of trustworthy information on this matter, and it is the Commission's task to ,try to get the figures for at least the past twenty years. One may deduce from Dr. M'llraith's book, though the author makes no specific recommendation, that the State should take all proper care to record the variations in retail prices in relation to wholesale quotations. This is done at intervals, but we are not aware that this important 1 work is done systematically enough to satisfy statisticians of the future. Mr. Ensor's evidence also helps the country to read the lesson of last census, which demonstrated how the urban population had surpassed the rural quota. This development, in a country' so dependent on the primary industries, must necessarily make for higher cost of living unless the rate of production . increases correspondingly in quantity and diminishes proportionately in wonting costs. These costs have not declined ; the foundations have not been strengthened sufficiently to carry the increasing load. The moral of Mr. Ensor's evidence is in line 'with the moral frequently; put in these columns; much of the more or less unproductive labour in the urban- areas has to be diverted to the producing districts. "If there was more labour — reliable labour — -In the country," he remarked, "the production could be greatly increased." That is, the yield of food and wool for clothing would be increased, and so help to reduce the cost of living; Mother Earth would give more to her children. Therefore lie advocated the building of workers' homes iv the producing area, instead ot iv the towns, and, as far as his own farm was concerned, he might give half the value of the land required for sites for such homes. His idea was that workers should have freehold homes in the producing areas. The Commission can well hope to meet a few more witnesses like Mr. Ensor. "Summarises-, the trams have thrown away, through bad Waste in the rNjtes, at least £15,000 Tramways. a v«N.i', and for the nine years £135,000, which would have been" a line amount in the sinking fund had tho trams been properly planned," is the essential Kentenre in an interesting contribution by "A.11.H." on the Wellington tramways in The Post's uewa columns to-day. Our correspondent has worked out that large sum by adding estimates of the lose incurred by the cars in taking awkward turns which should have been avoided and the extra amount that would have been earned if the cars had not been obliged to do dead running on costly "roundabouts." The critic's line of argument must command respect, but we do not agree with his estima.te of £135,000 as the amount to be debited against inconvenient curves and gradients. However, "A.H.H. " do«s not claim to be preaching unshakable dogma. He submits thai the figures | given by him are estimates " with a view of producing investigation," and he t>aye that he will be glad to co-operate with anyone willing to communicate with him. We hope that this invitation will not be in \aiu, for the city does t-oi'oly ami some healthy spuil of uelptul uilkkui oi' lw£o jjuMiu a&m*> X'he

position of the tramways undoubtedly docfi demand shrewd inspection. Thift fact must have been plain to discerning citiaens who took the trouble lo read the report recently given by tho Tramway Boaad to the City Council. The Mayor (Mr. D. M'Laren), as a prominent member of the United Labour Party, i» not one who wishes to see any undue .profit squeezed out of the public by a municipal enterprise, but Mr. M'Laren has been obliged to utter a. warning about the tramwuye. Provision has to be made for new works that are urgent, and in the meantime the working expeu&ee continue to creep up. For the eight-week period reported in Monday's Post, the total revenue per car mile averaged 14.60 d, a decrease of .17d compared with tho corresponding period last year. The working expenses averaged 11.04 d, to which capital charges, 3.97 d, have to be added, making a total of 15.01J per car mile. Thus the loee was .41d per car mile on the 358,675 miles run in the ■ eight wceka, a total of £612. Last year, for the same period, the profit was .51d per car mile, and therefore compared with last year the losb is .92d per car mile — £1375 for eight weeks. This 1b distinctly unpleasant. Last year the aggregate working expenses were 14.26 d per car mile ; this year they are 15.01 d. "A.H.H." suggests that the general running scheme should be revised with a view to cutting do-wn expenses. We presume that the new traffic manager, Mr. Cable, is getting data on this muchdiscuEsed subject to assist the City Council to improve the finances of the tramways. Scores of houses at Wailii, once happy homes, are now silent by Desolate the streets where worklees Wailii. men wander to and fro. From week to week the number of houses "to let" increases; The Post's special correspondent esti> mates that the population of the borough has dwindled by four to five hundred since the strike began. An air of desolation has been put upon a thriving place because the members of the Miners' Union, ail anti-arbitration body aided and abetted by the Red Federation of Labour, decided that it was not reopectable, from the "solidarity" viewpoint, to work with arbitrationists, the members of the new Engine-drivers and j Winders' Union. From tho outset the public opinion of New Zealand went against the strikers, who had such a poor excuse for stopping the wheels of industry. The power of that opinion has bee^n felt by the Federation's executive, which hopes to maintain the strikers in idleness, on comparatively short commons, by taking a tut out of the wages of workers here a«d in Australia. It is a hopeless attempt of the beaten executive to turn defeat into victory. " Strike pay ' seems to be a scarce commodity. The supply is very far short of the demand. The maximum weekly pay for' the present is 30s, and it is limited to "casee of distress." Those who have been thrifty enough to save something have to eke out a living on the surplus till they drift into the zone of "cases of distress." Improvident workers are among those who have first call on the strike fund. It is not surprising, therefore, that reports of resentment come from Wailii. MaHy miners who were constrained to dance to the tune piped by the Reds are no.w condemning the tyranny which compelled them to lose their meaus of livelihood. "If the' strike lasts another month," said on© of them, outward bound for Sydney, "the leaders of the movement stand a pig 'chance of being drummed out of Waihi. Nothing could have happened that is better calculated to knock, the Federation of Labour crowd right out." In the early days of the struggle the strikers, merry at the moving picture shows, sports, and dances, believed that the Red Federation would quickly \vin the day for them, because the boastful leaders of this ultra-Socialist brigade had represented themselves as allpowerful. Time has revealed tho impotence of the Federation and the soro disappointment of the deluded strikers. A new Bill on town-planning is to be m m introduced by the Irian the Town, new Government, says ._ , . the Hon. ' A. M. Myers, who has been an earnest student of this subject. The Bill of last year was overloaded with the Governor-in-Council, and therefoie toppled out of the Bill cart. It is a matter mainly for local government, not Governor-in-' Council government, by which progress may be more hindered than helped. It was claimed for last year's Bill that it embodied the principle of the British Act, but The Post was able to show that there was a radical difference between bhe Now Zealand Bill and the British law. The Act of the Old Country does not give dictatorial power to the Government of the day. It gives ample encouragement to local authorities white safeguarding the right of objection by property-owners affected by towii-plan-ning schemes. There jb provision for petition to Parliament^ which, representing^ the whole public, is practically the arbiter between a section (a borough for example) of that public and private individuals who may resist that scheme for various reasons. The .Town-plan-ning Board has large, powers, but above the board is Parliament. The ideal in England is a harmonious co-operation between public authorities and private property -owners, and <so far tlie reimlth have been very pleasing. If tho Gov» ornui&it does' not survive, and is pucceeded by a Massey Government, the people may still look for town-planning, because Mr. Massey's platform has a plank of 4 that name. If the Government, whatever the brand, of the near future does not feel able to press a townplanning measure, it should at least be willing to amend certain town-spoiling sections of the existing law — the Public Works Act. Tho Post has explained again and again that this Act permits the cutting up of private property in cities and boroughs in a manner to clash with the planß of the local authorities. Examplea of this legalised; botch-work have been quoted by the late Mayor, Mr. ,T. M. Wilford, and probably each city and most of the towns can furnish some evidence on this subject to convince legislators that the law Bhould be altered Lo prevent the general publw from suffering, in perpetuity, for a tern* porary advantage given to one individual or a few persons.