OF N.Z. INTEREST

Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 124, 29 May 1922, Page 7

OF N.Z. INTEREST

INSURANCE, COMPANIES' DEPOSIT ACT

PURE WHITE LABOUR LEADERS

(FROM OCR OWN COWUBFONDEM.)

LONDON, 21st April,

What may be considered as a great compliment to New Zealanders and tho Dominion is .contained in the current number of the Workers' Dreadnought, the Communist organ of this country. It* takes the form of a letter from a New Zealand "comrade," who recently visited London.

'•'I have arrived in this country of farmers and docility," he says, "and can state without fear of contradiction, that, from a militant working-class standpoint, it is one of the worst in the world. Since I left here, the boss class has victimised most of my friends, and through their inability to obtain employment, they have left New Zealand for Australia. This is a great loss to the New Zealand Labour movement, for Labour militants are few. Our Prime Minister, the agent of the bosses, lias banned all literature of a progressive working-class nature. If one is found in possession of any literature preaching the overthrow of Capitalism, it means six months' imprisonments All the outrages against Labour bring not a word of protest from the official Labour leaders. We used to call them 'yellow,' but I think they have become pure white. I had plenty of trouble leaving England, and was arrested and searched at every port. The bosses of New Zealand are making a frontal attack on the workers of New Zealand, and the wage slaves are seeing the necessity of having their pay cut, in order to help the master class »yi its hour of need. The cuts in some cases, for instance, the waterside workers, amount to 8d per hour, and conditions which tKe workers won as long as ten years g,go, have been lost.. But if you talk of overthrowing the Capitalist system, the reply of many workers is that they are New' Zealanders_, not Bolsheviks. Nevertheless, dissatisfaction grows." . :

j PACIFIC TREATY. "As in Australia," says the British Empire Review, "the coming guarantee of peace in the Pacific secured at Washington by the settlement which, Sir John Salmond suggests, might be called I "The Pacifio Treaty of Washington/, gives the greatest statisfaction. The Dominion keenly regrets the-sacrifice of the splendid battle-cruiser New Zealand, which she presented to the Imperial Government. But she is sacrificed in the interests of peace, and the record of the noble service which she rendered during the war will survive. She has a proud record as a flagship of the Second British Squadron, and brilliantly distinguished herself at the Dogger Bank and Jutland actions. Sir John Salmond emphasised the all-British character of the delegation to the* United States, and it has been pointed out as a notable feature of the Conference that the Dominions subordinated their own interests.to those of the; delegation as a whole^-an augury of the future of Imperial relations, and of the loyalty and spirit of co-operation which has been so remarkably displayed throughout the Empire in the past," *> THE MEAT POOL. Referring to the meat pool the Christchurch correspondent of the. Economist writes: "The main arguments for the scheme are partly inspired by a reasonable belief that shipping and, marketing charges are extortionate, amounting, as they, do, to half the value of the meat sold, partly to a lurking fear of the meat trust, and very largely to a belief .that, if supplies aje temporarily withheld | from the market, prices - will improve. The scheme is to be financed by a com' pulsory levy on all meat exported, but the' Government is to guarantee it. There is no indication of the policy the Government or the board will pursue; indeed, the whole scheme is shrouded in mystery, and the Empowering Bill sjmply sets up a board and gives it carte blanche. It is claimed that the mere threat .< of control has already raised prices in .the London market—the whole credit of, the recent market improvement being claimed as the result of a sue-, cessful bluff—but many people believe, and more hope, that the scheme.will be dropped or considerably' modified. It is rumoured, alsOj that financial pressure will be brought tp bear- oil the. Govern-' ment, for .trading firms cannot go on financing farmers if their" businessl is closed to them." <'. :i ■':■■■ "BOBROWING CHEAP MONEY." "New Zealand tries to raise £1,000,000 from Insurance Concerns^" This is the heading of a paragraph in Policy Holder, an insurance: paper published.-, in Manchester. The paragraph is really a letter -from Mr. K. W. Robinson, representative in New Zealand of the American Foreign Insurance Association, .who says : "At present New Zealand is instituting some experimental legislation regarding cash deposits to be made by insurance companies. The four .companies incorporated in New Zealand are free from the new Insurance Companies' Deposits' Act. British companies who do fire busii uess only are called' on to .deposit £15,000 in cash. British companies doing fire and accident business -are to deposit £\35,000,.and American or foreign companies, doing fire business only, or other classes, except marine, must deposit £35,000 in cash. British companies not already operating here will bo called on to deposit £50,000 before they can I commence business in New Zealand. American or foreign companies not already operating must deposit £100,000. The depositsl will bo, lodged .-with the Public Trust Office and will receive 4a per cent, interest, but this interest will be subject to income tax, whereas New Zealand Government securities, £100 par, bearing 4£- jjercent. interest, . may be / bought in the open 'riiarkat-to-day at £86, and these are free of income tax. A little calculation shows that the Government is raising.- a. forced loan of ■approximately £1,000,000 from, insurance companies operating in New Zealand. If a company makes an ; underwriting profit of £10,000., such profit is subject to income tax at the rato of'Bs 3d 'in'the £1, and the interest rate on its £35,000 cash deposit would thereby bo reduced to 2g per cent.,- so the New Zealand Government has at last found a method of borrowing cheap money." / "DINCUM.' 1 It is doubtful if the- word "diricum" was used in Now Zealand before thev beginning of this century, but according- to a writer in the Yorkshire Post its entry into colonial vocabulary dates back as far as 1867. "The winner of the Farmers' Race at the Inniskilling Dragoons' meeting," says the correspondent, "is named 'Dincum.' In the National Review for January last, is a contribution on 'What the soldier said during the war'—the slang phrases and.many local words brought by the soldiers from all over the world. At the end of it: mention is made of 'digger' and 'diueum' from Australia and JS'.ew Zealand. 'Dint cum' is a Lincolnshire boys' expression, and means play fair—uo cheating, etc.— especially in u jamo of marbles. About oiio '!)im«3i'«l cniljfMiitu leH, tfs-ijg in oiw Jiig, mi wived ifc New Za»Usj ja,

August,-1867,' and; I think, there is no question but that this word was carried there from North Lincolnshire io be brought back to its Motherland." Descendants of those emigrants may perhaps be able to say whether this derivation is correct. IMPERIAL GEOGRAPHY. It is an old mistake amongst those whose education has been neglected that New Zealand is part of -Australia, but one would hardly expect a newspaper" sub-editor ; to know so little concerning the British Empire as to think- that j Tasmania was a part of New Zealand. In the Western Times and Tn the Express and Echo, both papers published ;in the same office at Exeter, there appears a paragraph headed' "Emigration Problem: Disillusioned Men Write to Barum from New Zealand." Thejpara.graph proceeds: "A question as to the condition of immigration in Tasmania was raised at yesterday's meeting of Bamstaple and District Employment Committse by Mr. W. J. Parkhouse, who re?.d"~extracts on the point from two letters received by a Banistaple es-service man from a friend who had gone to Tasmania seeking settlement. In one, dated 15th October, 1921; the writer stated:.'lf you follow my tip, you won't come out here. The Tasmanian ■Government simply do nothing for one.; in fact, they haven't th«. money.' "

The iremainder of th'e letter refers to the hardships and difficulties which face the new' settler in Tasmania, h\s no mention is mads of. New Zealand. /It is just possible, of course, that an apprentice in the composing room was left to set up his own heading to the paragraph.