COURAGE AT LAST!

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVI, Issue 16807, 17 March 1915, Page 8

COURAGE AT LAST!

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —At last the Right Honourable W. F. Massey, Prime Minister of New Zealand, has found someone whom he can bounce, someone on wnom he can« perforin with his hob-nailed boots. He says' that if the little baker dares to raise tho price of bread to a higher figure than it is :at present he (IV. F. MaSsey, P.C.) will start a bakery in each-of tho four, chief centres. Poor little baker, how lie must tremble when the big political bully threatens to annihilate him! Kick them one and all, Bid, they have no friends at court. Allowing that they might have raised tho price of bread by a halfpenny, per loaf more than they ought to have done, has the same “justice” been meted out to them as to the monopo-list-T-tho man after Bill’s own heart? What a contrast between his attitude now and when lie was confronted by the big fat miller who demanded to know how ho (the P.C.) dared to limit the price of flour! When confronted by' tne fat miller, Mr Massey quietly backed down. He then told the general and unsuspecting public that fie had saved the country £30,000 by buying wheat! But he did not tell the people that he liad given this wheat to the fat miller. Oh, no. Now that the little baker wants a he (tho Prime Minister) says: “You cheeky rascal, you can’t have it.”

The public were supposed to benefit by tho importation of wheat. Where did it come in? Have they not been under the necessity of paying top price for their, flour? Verily the “benefits” received by the public as a result of his dabblmg in wheat are quite beyond understanding. • • . • Tho miller also asked the Prime Minister to remove the restriction against the export of bran and sharps so that they could-ship to the Commonwealth, where a better price was obtainable than in the Dominion. Mr Massey promised to consider the request. But, mind you, that request was made by the miller, not by the baker. Yet Hie poultry-keeper cannot buy food for their stock. They have asked that more wheat should be imported. But if this is done the millers, not the poultry*keepers, will get the grain. Seeing that he lias given the miller so much, he might limit the price of- offal so that it might he possible to keep soma poultry in the land. When Mr Massey “fixed” the prio* of wheat, the farmers took absolutely no notice of the “proclamation,” but cast tho document aside as so much waste paper, and went on selling without let or hindrance as far as .price was concerned. But the Prime Minister, although ho must have known, what was taking place, never moved a finger, but allowed the law of liis own making to be openly flouted. He permitted free trade in wheat to suit the pockets of his own rapacious followers.

And so tho dear farmers are to have cheap wheat for seed, after they have sold their own at 6s lOd to 6s lid per bushel. I suppose their friend, Mr Massey, will sell them their own wheat back,' perhaps at 3s 6d . per bushel! Andtlus is “statesmanship!” Has this blunderer, who has shown his utter incapacity to fill the position which he holds, given one thought 1 to *the men and women ■ who have _to pay for all this? Has he in a time of stress ' held out a helping hand to the worker, whose sons have gone to fight for the, Empire? I am afraid that unless an- , other Government is installed in place of the present incapabies practicallv the whole of the proposed war tax will fall on the shoulders of those least able to bear it—the workers. Let the Prime Minister learn a lesson (if his rich friends will let him) from Atis- j tralia, where the State which finds the wheat also fixes the price not only of wheat, but also of flour and bread.'But there they have men at .the head of affairs who are earnest in their desire to give fair plav to all. Have we such men here P There’s the difference. . There they do not single out the weak- j est, and threaten them with all softs of pains and penalties if they ask for a tithe of what the fat man can pocket with impunity, and apparently with the connivance of the authorities.—l j am. etc., ■; )

TOILER. Christchurch, March 16, 1915.