'UNEQUAL SACRIFICE.’

Evening Star, Issue 19518, 28 March 1927, Page 1

'UNEQUAL SACRIFICE.’

TO THE EDITOB. Sir,—With your permission I should like to comment from the wage earners’ point of view on your leader of March 25, headed ‘ Unequal Sacrifice,’ referring to. wages and_ the dictum of the Farmers’ Union sponsored by Mr Poison. I want to show that tiio section of the community sometimes known as “ ragged trousered philanthropists” have been filling that role on a grand scale in New r Zealand since 19? I. Tho wage workers of N.ew Zealand are not responsible for the fact that £1 sterling, which had a purchasing ratio of 20s in 1914, has only 12s now. It is speculation, induced by the late war, lor which the wage worker was not more responsible than the farmer, that_ led to tho depreciation of the £l. \Vheu we come to specify one of the forms of speculation that has brought about the present economic debacle in New Zealand, that of land easily comes first. I can cite land at £23 per acre in 191-4 which sold at £33 in 1922: £3O per acre 1914 sold at £IOB in 1921, within a radius of twenty miles of Dunedin. Butter-fat at 2s 6d per lb, bullocks £29 per head, and w’ool 3s per lb were the factors that produced this inflation. At the time this was going on the wage earner had to wait two and three years until his award expired before he could plead for a chance to catch up with it. Now, sir, if you want to show your impartiality tell the public out of the number of motor cars imported since 1914 how many are in tho possession of the farmers, and how many wharf laborers do you see riding out to the country in their cars when they ought to be working a ship, and now many farmers ride into town when they ought to be following a plough. For Mr Christie’s benefit you might suggest that whereas a farmer milked thirty cows before the advent of tho milking machine he can do 100 now; that with three times the number in his herd he will require three times as many acres; that if you have the rent doubled, to make a living you will require to double your holding—there is tho explanation of the empty and neglected farms—l am, etc.. James Bain. March 20.