"GET OUT OF GUM"

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 36, 11 February 1926, Page 7

"GET OUT OF GUM"

"AND GET ON THE LAND* — / MR. M'LEOD*B ADVICE TO DIGGEBS (By TsJesrassJ (Sptdal to Tie Evsntaf Post") IV AUCKLAND, This Vif* \ "Get out of gum and get on tlaf land," is praetiuiUj the text of tha; Hon. A. D. M'Leod's remarks aft* having toured the whole of the gnxs* fields and gum areas in >the North* The Ministry is aot stall impresseoV with the kauri gum production aa a} means of livelihood. He and his mosti responsible officers have made a moat thorough investigation into the whols subject.- They have gone and seen for themselves, have spoken to individuals engaged in digging gum, have heard many deputations, and have addressed several meetings in the North. Tb say the least, the industry as well all those who have been, supported by i| is in a perilous state. A "Star" representative who hsl been travelling with the Ministerial party says he has heard many pitiful tales on hardship at such places aal Houhora and Waipapakaari, both big centres of the kauri gnm iadnstry is the North, There were tales of married men having to keep a wife and familyl of six to eight children em £10 for ttaeaj months. At all the places touched a4| from Te Paki, near Spirits Bay. to Ka*« taia, the Minister was aaked to gN relief to distressed diggers and thai* dependants. Mr. M'Leod, however^ held out little or bo hope so tag asj' they keep to the digging of gun. Pras» tieally all the way down he advise* Native as well as pakeha sad Balms- * tian .diggers to get oat of the iadattrjb He said the OoteuuiMßt had advanced £75,000 against the product, sad In* Department was holding tast amount of gum in store in Auckland to-day. If was impossible to advance say moat money until stocks were quitted* There was no sals far goa. fiamrjni was the only market, and she was bay* ing very small lots. Whenever hfe ott» eers could sell a Sttte they did sou snd the money laaeiwwl was spent b| buying mote gum from the diggers wag were up against it. „<■ . t HOHBBT AXTEMPX. 1 Many times during the tow Ma* M*Leod expressed the wish that ths? Government eonld get oat of the ksszi gum business altogether. He aasureA the diggers that the Kami Gam BJO. was an honest attempt to solve thai proWem, and the agpniwtmeat of tha* Kauri, Gym Obatrol Bond was anothec effort of the same kind: The gesste* curse of the bnsinees has been ths? sodden and extraordinary flnetoatioaa' in prices of and demand for the artielaj often leading, to great loss to diggeesj rain to storekeepers, and heavy loss also to many exporters. Then is aafc and never hat been, s ring among* Auckland buyers, it ia said, and aa> other thing which mold be said tat the* favour is that sxputtws have aot been; responsible for the extraordinary floe* tuationa which have occurred from tun«j to time over many years. It is onr* a few yean ago, that mednxm whits] swamp gum was seUiag at from 100a 1 to 120s per ewfc To-day the same quaW ity is worth only from 30s to 40s pas ewt—that is, if there was sale for it. Discussing the subject editorials the "Star" says; "It remains to H seen whether the board will reaDy help, the digger. New gnm washing processes and the. appfiaatioß of seiflntimj methods of treatment oa aa extoasnaj scale may/prolong the fife of the ia> dustry, but more especially for iadi» vidnal workers it is inn iiihii to rea&sa' that the sta^e of deprearioa aad hard* ship through which the tndastry ai so*} passing is merely a symptom of a as* tural and inevitable decline; sad vste* able as this industry has been to Auek* land, there is nothing to be gained brf shutting our eyes to tie trata now."