THE COUPON SYSTEM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13726, 16 April 1908, Page 7

THE COUPON SYSTEM.

Sir,— Upas uee, the cash coupon infliction, grows apace, and is extending its voracious brandies, slowly, but surely, until ultimately the breadwinners of this muchbelauded country will not possess a soul (or a sou) to call their own. Is it inevitable! Or are the people going to arise in their might- from the deadly slough of their selfcomplacency, and destroy it, root. _ branch, and tendril, in the tierce fire of public indignation? Are the public, like the Auckland master bakers, waiting to see how it will act down South? Why wait? Hesitation spells defeat. The principle of the scheme is rotten, be the results what they may. At a meeting of the Master Butchers' Association at (jisborne, it was pointed out that under the cash coupon system, consumers of large quantities were getting their meat at a, somewhat cheaper rate than previously, but that there was not much difference in prices with the small consumers. And right here I consider it a decidedly pertinent question to ask is not the small consumer (a very large proportion of the population, entitled to as much, if not more, consideration than the largo consumer (a very small proportion ot the population)? To my mind, it seems iniquitous that the small consumer, i.e., the poorer classes, private families, etc, should be compelled to pay a larger sum of money for the same article than do shipping companies, hotels, etc., who comprise the large consumers, and who, therefore, can better afford to pay the ruling prices. I have a suggestion to put forwardnot my own. I may hero state, it having been already ably expressed in the Wellington Post recently it is in the shape of a compromise. If wo really cannot exist without coupons, why not. let the State take sole control and issue coupons, say, from their post offices. It would solve the problem, and at the same time be, for the Government, a. splendid means of raising the wind. Onehunga. J. A. B. JoiixsTojr,