NEW ZEALAND.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 247, 17 October 1908, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND.

CONTROVERSY IN THE LONDON

PRESS

A controversy about New Zealand, under the heading "Proof of the Pudding," is going on in the columns of the Morning Leader (writes a London correspondent). One of the letters published this week purports to be a "copy of a letter sent by a Somerset emigrant who has taken up farming in New Zealand." The writer says:—"We find the cost of living high, with the blessings of protection ; everything is very dear; bread is 8d per 41b loaf, and whatever you want that would in a shop be 6d at Home, is Is here, and sometimes more." "An ounce of fact is worth a ton of theory," runs the editorial comment. Another letter written from* Yeovil, Somerset, says: —"Your correspondents, who criticise the prices of commodities in New Zealand, omit to mention one important point—that in that country there is a minimum wage and a maximum number of hours. This does away with a great deal of competition in the labour market; and if the people have to pay. a little more for their goods than we do in the Old Country, their wages are correspondingly higher. Two friends of mine who went out are doing well, and enjoying better health than they ever had before."