THE LOGIC OF FACTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13325, 3 November 1906, Page 8

THE LOGIC OF FACTS.

Sir, —Id Mr. .Yaile's reply in Wednesday ♦ is,'tie he leaves it to your readers to judge whether two of the foremost London journals or Professor Segar are- most likely to lx» correct in their figures. Now the figures in his reply, taken from the, Telegraph, arc correct, but being those for four isolated years do not disprove my own, and in fact were included in the average prices ] gave; nor, for the same reason, do they confirm MrVaile'©. The others in Mr. Vailo's .original , letter and based on the Times or National Review (lie does not know which) were certainly wrong-, though whether the mistake was made in London or in Auckland I cannot say. My own figures were taken from tho Board of Trade returns, which I ha.vo the possibly strange fancy of preferring on. matters of trade to the National Review, the Times, or any other ephemeral and partisan, literature. So even if Mr. Yaile is personally innocent of error it is a question between the London journals on the one side, and not Professor Segar but the Board of Trade, on tho other. With this explanation I may agree with Mr. Yaile in leaving your readers to judge of the accuracy of his prices of wheat, pointing out. though, that he attempts no defence of his other inaccuracies. Mr. Vaile has come down from his statement that " the repeal of tho corn laws had no effect whatever 011 tho price of wheat" and "as a matter of fact, the British public never paid this corn tax. It was» paid by the foreign producers . . . and so it would be again," to the less "sensational but rather more sane belief that "there were other and more powerful agencies awork affecting the price of food than impost duties." Hero there is. certainly progress;'.' Import duties are actually admitted amongst (he agendas affecting the price of food! U is always « consolation •to think flic's labours have not been in vain. 1 li, W. SIiUAX'