LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16373, 30 October 1916, Page 7

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

—♦ 1 THE ■ PRICE OP BUTTER. Sir,— Seamen's Union has followed the Labourers' Union in protesting to the Government that the reduction in tho price of butter is not sufficient. The city worker ignores the fact that overy article that is in daily use on the form has increased in price enormously, which advances do not affect tho labourer in tho slightest degree. Manures, wi-ro, building material, cow and horse covers, benzine, farming implements, harness, artificial foods, and labour cost from 25 to 200 per cent, raoro than two years ago, but their producing power is exactly the same. If the Government considers a reduction in the price of butter necessary, it should bo provided from the revenue, as that* would avoid placing the farmer in tho posi'tion of having to help to support tha labourer and the business man. Wage-earner , with a Conscience. FIXING OF PRICES. Sir,—l wish to eiplain, more fully than has yet been done, tho grounds upon which tho Farmers' Union is raising a strong protest against tho action of tho Government in imposing an export tax on > butter-fat. We base our case principally on the following grounds:--Firstly, it. is , taxation without the consent of Parlia- , meut. Secondly, it is imposed not for the public benefit, but. for the benefit of the local consumers of butter, who have clearly no more right to cheap butter than have the people of the United Kingdom, who purchase the remainder. And, thirdly, it is a pernicious principle, which, if generally agreed to and fully carried out, will leave no protection for any part of the community which happens to bj in a minority. We in New Zcalai- l >.ave established a system under which with every increase in the cost •'■ living, the rate of wages is correspond). • 'ly increased, and thi; system lias been fu.ly taken advan'igo of right up to date. " bus the, recv .« d remedy for the injustico !'— .!v<?ad\ oeen, applied, and the action now taken can only have tho effect of creating an injustice in another direction. The " man in tho street' generally supports tho scheme. He uses butter, and he tWks that t V 'C dairyman can well d.'id ; 'J take lew for his local sales, seeing tho high pri he obtains for his export sales. That, in short, he is rich enough to stand tho loss. Setting aside tho fact that this argument, if sound, would justify the robbery of a cood many other people besidus tho dairyman, we must not forget thai it is bv no means certain he is reapirg such a phenomenal harvest. His gro;,s r°wrng are higher than ho ever drear cd of, but so also are his expenses. Prac.'vlly everything that he requires has feoon up enormously in price. The fertiliser that he must use to maintain the fertility of his soil costs about double, and the same may be said of any labour which ho may hire, and I venture to say that very few <>f those who declaim against his exorbitant returns would change places with the average dairyman and do the work ho does fir the reward ho receives. It is true that the amount of money involved at present ; s not a verv grave matter, and rnav no! ho seriously felt, but the gravity of the situation lies in the fart that it is a start on a system of robbery of one section of the 'community for tho benefit of another, and that it has ben extorted from the Government by n distinct threat from a nart of th« section benefited. If such things can be perpetrated on a small scale, thev mav be. perpetrated on a much hrcer scale, and "ith d:«is'rous effects. if tho ! "fiieraJ pnhlic do not, ere it is to-: late, [ become alive to the dangers of the. situation. A. A. Ros I Prov President X.Z. Fanners Lmon. J ONE-TIM- E ORCHARDS. Kir.—As one who knows what fruitgrowing is and what it will mean to this country in the near fin ire, I have no hesitation'in saying that the stop taken to renter all orchards ■* a good one. Tho backvard orchard in the majority of cases is a blizhl niiiserv. In the short time I have been in the Au'kland district I have ; Mm enough of the one or two-tree (.p'hardi-ts to know he is no better than his brother north or south, the result being that the man who really does spray and keep his trees clean has a hard time'of it. The fruit industry cannot be a success without proper supervision, and how ',& it to be doue without registration? Arkle's Bay. T. M. Brass.