TOPICS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 12, 15 January 1929, Page 8

TOPICS OF THE DAY

Auckland potato-growers, having experienced a prolific season, are faced with the operation of the law of supply and demand. ' Potatoes being (possibly only temporarily) in over-supply, the price dropped from 5s to 6s a bag, clown to 2s a bag. The fall was rapid, as indeed the recovery may be; but little or no account seems to have been taken by growers of the business fact that losses on profits may be compensated by gains on turnover. That fact was overshadowed in'growers' minds by the allurement of profits to bo created byshipping to Australia and so relieving congestion on the local market, with corresponding rising prices. Efforts were made to induce the Minister, Mr. G. W. Forbes, to facilitate shipment of the potatoes to Australia, where prices were much higher. Mr. Forbes replied pointing out that so far back as February; 1927, the Commonwealth had withdrawn permission to import New Zealand potatoes. What the New Zealand producers, not only fruitgrowers, appear to lack is any sense of give-and-take. Some of them, only last week, at Christehureh urged the Minister of Agriculture to place practically prohibitive duties on fruits and cucumbersv from Australia, on onions from Japan, on fruits from California and South Africa. The old scare of introduction of fruit diseases was, of f course, raised at the meeting with the Minister. But the interest of the fruit consumer was left out of the discussion. Mr. Forbes was very wise in Ms reply to the Christehureh deputation, for he reminded it that protection was a matter for Parliament; also, what had been overlooked by the fruitgrowers, that the general public had to be persuaded that what was being done was in their interests as well.

New Zealand caunot have it both ways. It cannot say to Australia: Please admit our potatoes notwithstanding we are trying to make admission of your products to our markets more and still more difficult. Of course the general public have to be persuaded that what is being done in the direction of making fruit more expensive is in. their own interests. Fruit is dear enough already in New Zealand, an essentially fruit-growing country. We admit that there is a deplorably wide margin, between what the grower receives for his fruit in the, orchard and what the consumer pays for it iv the shops. But that is no fault of the consumer. It is a problem of "overhead" involving transport^ handling, merchanting,' 'and other ; charges. all beyond the power of the consumer to ' rectify. But the general public through the consolidated revenue have to make good any calls upon the export fruit guarantee. Therefore they should look to and keep a sharp eye upon legislators who, for the purpose of making, their seats secure, are likely to sacrifice the general interest in the cause of local and special interests at the expense of the community as a whole. •

At one time it appeared that the Island Bay dispute between fishermen and others regarding facilities for landing fish would be settled by amicable discussion; but the City Council has been unable to bring about a settlement. It has finally, adopted a course which we suggested many months ago—the investigation by expert officers acquainted with: the local position. The Engineer-in-Chief of the Public Works Department and the Under-Secretary of Marine have been selected to act as a. Commission. The choice is an admirable one. Both officers are well acquainted with the Wellington coast and can appreciate .its recreative as well as commercial possibilities. They can assess also the weight of the arguments used regarding tides, berthing facilities .' for launches, and safety. When they have heard the case submitted by both sides they should be able to give a decision which will be fair to all parties. Settlement by conciliation has proved impossible, and the only course now is to obtain a decision from impartial and competent judges.

■With all, the authority of his high office to support his condemnation of superstitions, the Pope may lessen the prejudice against "unlucky" numbers and days. But sueli prejudices are hard to move. Many of them belong to the childhood of the human race. They areso old that their origin is forguttou. Childhood is the time of inagie. Tom Sawyer exercised a considerable influence over his band, because ho was a

repository of tho inagie lore of the schoolboy. He knew the proper incantation for curing warts, and the ritual which he taught to Sid and Huck Finn gave him, in their eyes, the prestige of the medicine man. In the childhood of the human race, when natural science was little understood, there were magical explanations of many phenomena and magical means of averting evil. Often there was a reasonable explanation of this inagie, but we have lost the reason and retained only the negative magic. Yet that magic has a strong hold, even among people of high intelligence. In one of his war books Mr. Winston Churchill records that when he showed Lord .Fisher the dockyard telegram that the Invincible and Inflexible could not be ready before midnight of Thursday, the- 12th, Lord Fisher's comment was:. "Friday, the thirteenth; what a d d unlucky day.'' Tho unluckiness of Friday is of pagan origin, but thirteen, according to a high authority, is of recent date. Thirteen at table is usually associated with the Last Supper, but there is a more reasonable explanation of the objection, though not of the superstition. It would certainly be unfortunate for a hostess, if a thirteenth guest arrived when all her cutlery and crockery was in dozens. Possibly it was au ingenious hostess who invented the superstition to cause her absence 'from tho t.ablo when the real reason (that she had only twelve plates, knives, and forks) was one she did not wish revealed. Other explanations can be found for other old beliefs. The illluck of walking under a ladder is supposed to be a survival of the savage belief that .stepping over a person is injurious to that person, but it may have been reinforced by accidents which are always possible if there is a painter with a pot and brushes, or a labourer with a hodful of bricks on the ladder. Similarly the objection .to bringing broom into tho house, originating probably when broom was the emblem of the Plantagenets and objectionable to their enemies, may have regained strength in thesq days when ths plant is a noxious weed and objectionable to the farmer. If. wo could trace all these superstitions we might suppress them; but as we cannot wo tolerate them. Probably the people who worry over them would bo unhappy if they could not do so. Anyway, it helps the jewellers who make and sell amulets, talismans, and mascots to avert the ill-luck. __„