CORRESPONDENCE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 8 October 1924, Page 6

CORRESPONDENCE.

PATEA FREEZING WORKS. (To the Editor). Sir, —The Patea. Freezing Works have cost up to the present close on £500,000, and there remains a debt of £11.0,000 only on the buildings. The works arcbuilt of concrete, and ail the machinery and appliances are of the most up-to-date description. The freezing charges are about the lowest in New Zealand, and were framed so as to return only a fair rate of interest, plus administration expenses. The works are not one of the mushroom kind that sprang into existence during the boom period, but are amongst the oldest established in the Dominion. The proposed new company will make use of the works for freezing only, and as the capital required is only £40,000, every endeavour should he used to float it. The disastrous effects of trying to work while undercapitalised are only too well known in New, Zealand, and it would 'be only inviting trouble for the new proposition to try to open the works without ail the necessary finance. A perusal of the prospectus will show that losses are oractically impossible under the proposed regime, but the benefits which will accrue to the farming community warrant the greatest- optimism. New markets for pigs have been established in Glasgow and other places, and this ought to make a still further demand for the works to be kept open. Especially is there a keen demand for hogs weighing 1201bs to 1801hs. Owing tc the slaughter of caly-es there are large numbers of pigs available, and the new outlets will help the situation considerably. The Patea company- can take all pigs on offer, .thus assuring the farmers full market values for their

produce. —I am. etc., “FREEZING POINT/’ Oct, 8, 1924. MR, HOBBS AND THE LABOUR PARTY. (To the Editor.)

Sir, —Mr T. C. Hobbs is reported in ( your issue of yesterday as' having announced at the Scout meeting on Thursday last that “the Labour Party was opposed to the Scout movement, and as about 50 per cent, of the carpenters were that way inclined they probably would not get too much sympathy there.” Now, Mr. Editor, why could not Mr. Hobbs be a little more frank and put thq, matter the othSr way round ? s He should have stated that the Scout movement was opposed to the Labour movement, and therefore could not reasonably look for support to members of the Labour Party. Has Mr. Hobbs forgotten the address delivered in Hawera early last year by a 'Dominion organiser of the Scout movement (one, Witherby, if my memory serves me correctly) in which violent attack was made upon the Labour movement and a strong appeal , put forward for support for the Scout movement as a- kind of bulwark against the inroads of Bolshevism, materialism, disloyalty and kindred bogeys. Mr. Hobbs may remember ; (and you, Mr. Editor, certainly will) : that this lecturer resurrected the old scaremongering statements regarding the “menace”, of the Socialist Sunday • schools and their alleged blasphemous ; teachings, and this despite the fact ; tliat these allegations had been ef- : fectively countered in every part of i the Dominion and widely discredited. Mr. Hobbs must. know, as a promin- • eiit official of the Reform Party, that . these statements that were .trotted out by this gentleman on the occasion referred to first emanated from the Newsletter, the official organ of his own party, and therefore the Labour Party has ample justification for viewing with suspicion an' organisation 1 whose propaganda is largely . identical with the propaganda of the Reform Party. Mr. Hobbs has not hesitated to- drag in the name of the Laboui J Party, so it is just as well that a. reminder-' should be given of these fact; regarding the Reform Party and it; relationship to the Scout movement J Add to this the fact that the Seoul movement is everywhere inseparably associated with elderly generals ant colonels and the fire-eating type o politician, and there is further gremit for the Labour people viewing tin movement as a military kindergarten But in. spite of these facts and in spit of Mr. ."Hobbs’ assertion, 1 am no aware that. the Labour Party, as i party, either locally or nationally ha ever adopted an official attitude o hostility towards the Scout movement < and 'Mr. Hobbs is hereby challenge' to disprove this statement. The pro posal to erect a separate hall for train ing Scouts in is superfluous. W< already have a drill hall- in Hawcr which is not used every night (and wil he used less and less with the grov ■ ing indifference to military trainin' 1 that is' now evident among thos liable) and this hall would be a mos suitable and appropriate place for tli Scouts to meet. If the 'attendance a tlie recent annual meeting preside ' over by the Mayor is anything t judge by, local interest in the Scou movement is practically extinct, and have no doubt that a realisation c this fact was partly responsible fr; Mr. Hobbs’ kick at the Labour Parti —I am, etc.. , ’ W. A. SHE AT. Hawera. Oct, 4, 1924.