PROTESTING TOO MUCH.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17336, 27 November 1916, Page 6

PROTESTING TOO MUCH.

w s are sure that the farmers would be wise in ceasing to pass resolutions of protest against what they are pleased to call the "butter fat tax." The export license was imposed in order to protect the local consumer from exploitation. An attempt was made to put the price of butter up from Is 8d to Is lOd, and the Government, not before time, stepped in, with the result that the price came down one penny instead of going up twopence. Had the Government not intervened it is likely that the public would have been paying 2s by now, for the .experience of the last couple of years shows that the producer is very fond of war profits. In this matter of butter, as it turns out, they are particularly exasperated, we suppose, because, like tho dog in the fable, they strained at the shadow and lost the substance —or rather, they lost part of it, but they are still remarkably well off. The resolutions of protest and expressions of indignation are becoming . wearisome. The farmers are ovordoing it, and we are sure they are unwise, because they are merely inviting further examination of the facts. The outstanding fact in connection with the subject is that tho British and New Zealand consumers axe paying the producer a substantial war tax in re-' spect of dairy produce, while the men of both countries are being conscribed to prevent the farms from passing into the hands of the enemy. At all events, if they are determined to keep on beating the air with fatuous resolutions the few farmers who profess to speak for the whole industry might try to control their language. At Ashburton on Saturday a desire was expressed for the destruction of the Ministry by a German bombl Really, this is a shocking exhibition of bad taste and violent temper—and all over a quite moderate and reasonable adjustment. The producers of dairy produce have pocketed hundreds of thousands of pounds by way of war profits, and they ought to be thoroughly ashamed to grumble. Howover, we refuse to believe that opinions like those expressed at Ashburton are shared by many of the producer*.