Readers Write

Northern Advocate, 11 May 1939, Page 6

Readers Write

[Readers are invited to send letters for publication in this Column. A letter should be written in ink on one side of the paper, and must bear the name of the writer, not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith.]

I am glad lo note that sheepfarmers ? have been converted to the guaranteed ? price system, which, in my opinion,; should be |

GUARANTEED PRICES FOR FARMERS.

applied to? 9 primary in-i

dustries as; a whole. The State, in return for | guaranteeing a reasonable price,? should be allowed to keep any surplus! that might be obtained. I am alsot glad that farmers condemn the fixing ? of the exchange rate. How time! changes ideas ! —‘ QUIZ.” |

England has of late far outdistanced! New Zealand in penal reform. Her | Money Payments Act 1935 abolishes all » imprisonment through j

PSYCHOLOGY AND CRIME.

inability to pay a" fine; New' Zealand?

still imprisons fors poverty. The New Criminal Justice; Bill in England provides for far-? reaching changes in the more rational f treatment of “persistent offenders”;; New Zealand ’streatment of a similar? typo of offender belongs to the Dark f Ages. f

Now England has made one further, great advance. After four years’' careful investigation, she is recom- 1 mending what this league has been advocating for ten years—a special! institution for the psychological treat-' ment of certain lawbreaker’s. As “The Times’’ points out, such an institution will protect the public by providing for the observation and investigation of offenders as well as for their treatment. The individual, too, will at least receive adequate help. Such an institutuion will provide special training, treatment by psychotherapy, and a special colony for offenders too abnormal for social life, though not insane. Had we, during the last ten ye'ars, had one such institution in place of one of our ordinary prisons, what an immense amount of wrongdoing, misery and loss, the public would have been spared, and how much useless expense might have been saved. Is it not time for a humanitarian Government to take some action along these lines?—NEW ZEALAND HOWARD LEAGUE FOR PENAL REFORM.

Your correspondent, “Remember 1934,’’ having missed with both barrels in his attacks on Mr Coates, now turns upon me, a humFARMERS’ ble farmer, and dubs

REVENUE, me 'a diehard Tory, etc,. etc. Such tactics merely emphasise the weakness of his case, and his statement that there are 2000 suppliers to ' the Whangarei Dairy Company, when actually there are 970, will enable your readers to assess the value of his other remarks. His statement that Mr Nash increased the price for butter this year would be equally misleading if everybody did not know that Mr Nash fixed the price at .87 perce per pound below the price arrived 'at by the advisory committee as necessary to fulfil the requirements of the guaranteed price plan. The arbitrary decision of Mr Nash imposed the first “cut” in the farmer’s standard of living, and the second cut was 'applied in the form of increased costs, passed on to the farmer after the price was fixed, a notable example being the 10 per cent increase in railway freights. On top of these “cuts” came the dry season, and 'although one does not blame anyone for that, the result is a still further “cut” in the farmer’s standard of living. In view of these various factors, my statement that the spending power of the average farmer would be reduced by at least £SO will probably prove to be a conservative estimate.

Your correspondent is evidently one of those who believe they can go on living at the same high standard, irrespective of what happens to the farmer, and the volume of national production. It is true, of course, that other sections by squeezing the farmer still further, may, for a time, maintain an artificially high standard for themselves, but ultimately it will be found that the prosperity of New Zealand must be based on a contented and prosperous farming community. The Labour Government promised the farmer a guaranteed price which would cover his costs and enable him to obtain for himself and his family a standard of living comparable with that obtained by others who rendered equal service. Mr Nash, as spokesman for the Government, is forcing the farmer to accept not a guar'anteed price, but a fixed price, which entirely ignores costs increases, due mainly to Government policy. It does not necessarily follow that one is a diehard Tory, or even an opponent of Labour, because one takes steps to bring these facts to the notice of the general public. —A. A. McLAUCHLAN.

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