Readers Write

Northern Advocate, 24 July 1939, Page 4

Readers Write

The Yugoslav community in the Dominion appreciated very much the suggestion of Mr Mazengarb and other members of

YUGOSLAV IMMIGRATION.

the Northland Associated Chambers

o f Commerce that the Government should encourage the immigration of residents of Yugoslavia as suitable settlers for Northland.

Experience during the past fifty I years in the Northern Wairoa has! proved that Dalmations are hard-j working people in all branches of ? agriculture, but especially viticulture. | The Government has expressed its j intention to encourage the grape-1 growing industry, but surely it doesi not think of doing so under the pres- | ent wine-makers’ license system. If] the Government would buy grapes] and then manufacture wine 'and sellj it to the shops under Government) control, or provide for free sale of) wine by the producer, then the poor] lands of the North would become a< paradise in the course of a few years.) The Waiharara is supposed to have) the poorest gumland in the Dominion, \ yet Messrs Shroj Brothers were the i largest suppliers to the Kaitaia but- ] ter factory, which has over 700 sup-' pliers. Then Messrs M. and G. Ur-' lich, of Lake Ohia, were the largest! suppliers to the Oruru factory last; season. I could mention several; other industries in which Yugoslavs are most skilled. They even supply fish to Auckland. This is surely a cose of the stone which the builders rejected becoming the head of the corner.—PETEß M. SULENTA, Waii p'apakauri.

To comprehend this question in its economic incidence, we have to know some of its complications, besides that it is produced by

WHAT IS WEALTH?

man from the I'and for him and his useful ani-

mals. Singularly, although man is also an animal, some are beasts, and, like them, prey upon each other without mercy, or conscious remorse. They do so without any reason, as Nature has provided an abundance of wealth for the use of every inhabitant of + his planet.

That is our experience in the past hundred years. Would we be too sanguine to expect improvement in the next century? It would appear not so. Why? Because the material for exchange, called money, has been selfishly manipulated by individuals for their own use, instead of for the nation. And indubitably, while that is permitted, disorder and strife will result. Actually, the possession of wealth by individuals is almost worthless. It may have been acquired by devious ways, and its possessor, after getting it from unearned increments accruing from public expenditure on conveniences and utilities, or by profiteerin, may depart with a well-satisfied smirk on his features, to fresh fields 'and pastures new, to the wile of exploitation. These strife-provoking iniquities, also the distrust, disunity, diversity of religious opinion, and the national and international rivalry, for gaining wealth, are the causes of the terrors and horrors of warfare, by nations that have, and others that have not, their share of the wealth that, if we really are sane, should be made available for all.

Silver for exchange can be bought as an accessory of production, while gold remains the standard of values. But if the State thought it advisable, any material can be used to produce wealth. And, that being so, what could deter the State if a machine is used to produce the means for acquiring wealth “for all purposes,” or “for liquidating our external debt, and interest thereon, by the surplus export values placed in a sinking fund,” while there are external markets. How otherwise can we pay this enormous indebtedness?

Remedial measures are suggested in my thesis as the only apparent way all debts, or other obligations, can be paid, and then be free to shape our destiny as an honourable entity of the component parts of the British Commonwealth, and made so in reality by issuing a universal currency for all British payments. Is that fascinating vision 'an impossibility? If so, how long will the present solidarity of our Union last? There are disintegrating signs, and there are also envious enemies ready to take any advantage to get our wealth. Therefore, every honourable means should be taken by the Homeland and our authorities to prevent any disastrous unfriendly disintegration. Unity is the harbinger of peace; disunity the precursor of strife. Also, there is nothing more disunifying than the inequitable equation of wealth, that has caused incalculable millions of men, women and children indescribable jjrivations and iabject poverty, while whirling through an illimitable abyss on their way to the final ending of all living things. Is this appalling tragedy to be continued indefinitely? This optimist, who sees, and think he knows the remedy, fervently hopes his fellows will also see that man will be as good, or as b'ad, as the conditions in which ho is forced to live will permit him to be. —WILLIAM R. KEAY, Herekino.