LOCAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17483, 29 May 1920, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP.

mm »* UKBCtmO. | Auckland lady who signed the .1 11 11. economy-ii-d pledge, was heard to remirk the other ** a - that the movement Viid accomplished some good already, but - ;. . could not understand how the Amerihad heard about, it so soon. Those '•"Yankees must be smart men, an( she • inquired, how long would it take for price-cutting to be & in in Auckland. Vow. this is precisely the question which '••.• I«'<nc wiser beads than the lady s. :^-: SU& ii a feeling that prices have about ••■ Tb hr-Tthi peak and will shortly be *ff«V.n grade. It may I* that the ,; °" hi- father to the thought, but neverW B L the public mind is a factor that » M 3 le 0 { influencing trade. Because, - -»2,Smlv if vou succeed in convincing the ffi that prices are rising it will buy ■ & and strengthen the market against ?®3 • if on the other hand, the public S-s lower prices it buy* grudgingly, :': Tthc slowness of trade becomes an SBiffin reducing prices Possibly the *& movement in the United States. f -Sv be traced at, much to psychological as ■ to mors, material causes. - The proposals made by the farmers of tHh» province for the marketing of next ' -'bison's produce do not seem very helpful K Efttrds a solution of the problem. ' ■ According to the statement by the president of the Farmers' Union, a largo msicrity of the branch organisations de?J in" extension of the meat requisition, tad a. free market for dairy produce. In : ether words, in spite of their emphatic objection to the fixing of prices, the, fanners want guaranteed fixed prices for mat because the market is over- ; polled »nd values ■" declining, but 4 31 a vrorlcUshortage of butter and £ rianf prices, they are prepared to take . their" chance in selling dairy produce. •-" The consumers' point of view, of course, •*is' : that prices should be fixed for commodities with low supplies and high ; price* and a free market opened, when supplies are increasing and prices falling. :obviously, these views cannot Be reconi ciled and a compromise seems inevitable. ■' That will probably be the attitude of the Imperial Government—a free market for everything, which means cheaper mutton, •' V; «nd dearer butter, or requisitions, with •..••''fixed prices for both. v- ''Some carious divergencies of opinion ! among fanners are disclosed in the remits ■ figuring on the agenda of the annual pro:vincial conference. One remit "most : k emphatically" ' opposes embargoes and ' price-faint;. Another contends that the , ; time has arrived when farmers should • - take a hand in fixing the price of their produce. A third remit protests against the Board of Trade being required to go outride its proper functions and interfere 'in any way with prices and distribution; a fourth asks the Board of Trade to investigate the rapid rise in the price of ■ manures, and a fifth requests the Govern- ' .meet to purchase fencing wire in the cheapest mark*! for distribution at cost price,: A farmers' political party might have difficulty in framing a policy to meet ill these requirements. The Prime Minister should be careful of forwards. He has suggested that the jokers'dispute might be settled by doing waj with racing altogether. Mr. Massey «Jbayj-:fcad a reputation for pluck, but nothing 1& has done quite equals this. The calw 'paxpel that comes to mind is the ■«» fofj if certain Mrs. Partington who .-; to push back the Atlantic with, a ■ay.: To stop racing! One might as »«1 think' of passing an Act of Parlia-

• wnt to prevent the sun from rising. At , ill events there arc people who would . C count the one as great a calamity ' j I : :*as the other and they will be lock- . - ing for Mr. Massey's scalp if . \: he continues to speak so lightly of the jj essential industry of racing. But perhaps i « the Prime Minister does not mean quite ;"••" "ail he said. To settle the jockeys' dispute ,'.; .it is not necessary to do awjiy with the f • 'occupation altogether. If the racecourses '. •;' were, like the schools, closed till the in- , . :• fluenza notifications come back to normal ' ' the quarrii would soon end and fade from ' public memory. Perhaps the Health De- ; -partment might seize this opportunity to lighten the labours of the Conciliation ' ~ Commissioner. i There is a shortage of paper and the Government has been compelled to recognise it to the extent of suspending 'the publication of the Post and Telegraph guide. Most people believe that a few pages could be saved on Hansard if members of Parliment wou'd condense their speeches. If they have no regard for the state of the paper market perhaps the experience of the member for Pamell might be an inducement to economy. Mr Dicksoil was challenged at election time on the ground that he filled "the least space in Hansard of all members of the House. Be was returned with the biggest majority of the election. The moral is obvious. A charge of profiteering has been laid against the Customs Department, by Mr. Isitt M.P.. and upon the evidence submitted in his telegram to the Prime Minister he appears to have a good case. | If the Board of Trade is to maintain that j a merchant profit must be fixed on what he paid for the goods and not on their value at the time of the sale, then the Customs Department is profiteering when it charges duty on the cost at the time of landing and refuses to accept the cost at the time of purchase. It would be an interesting development to have one State Department bringing a case against another-the King, as represented by Mr. Massey and the Board of Trade, charging the King, as represented by Sir William Hemes and the Customs, with profiteering. & . ,»it i.«. barelv neiessary to emphasise at ttis late hour that the Prince of Wales * what is known in popular parlance as a' good sport." An incin'ent which occurred . it one o: the halls he attended may, how j ever, be cited to illustrate the point. He. i -ad asked a girl to whom he was intro- ' duced for .1 dan..-, and the girl, with a' 1 candour wh li did her credit, said she' regretted that hei programme was full. : The Prime smilingly replied that lie admired her for the answer, and requested her to rt-sev. him a dance at. a hall he Would attend a f>-w e\enings later. j I , The Ma\n r ' f dih-mma over the concret-! ing of mao will,-el sympathetic considertion 'rrm th* head " : many a household. Remuera I: .-ad and .Manukaii Road, Epsom . -Mi need to be surfaced with roneret;. I.i.i ~ i,. rc-te and labour are in limited s'.pplv .rid which to d" first i- j not eas\ 1.- fie. id' It :s the old problem Which m"t!-.-r ha.- to work out when two hoys w.i:n . m ..mi, at we and the family ..-'. .1 credit .> only sufficient for one |. _•...- pili a really good suit I may meai ■'„,"( .la - may haw- to wear I Ithe o!H ..... :; - |■ -i:t> l.ur.-t Certain it in that ■ :>,■■ train rail.- arrive in time to give \| '.r , . 1;.„,, i the preference "me ala < £ leuti- mav be expected on Remuera I-:. ,d If it .an : have the real tailor-man* ■ 1 "t- 1 it "''l have to tret, a Slop n,|t ■■' „,.„ ;,,Ui!i and that means , ttore ' .51 • A corre.-f «dei writes : " The remarks re etym.J 1 ■'- whiih nine apeared in your ,j' Column tau leer of great interest. To alter th«- -■;. e. - a little, the explanation Of the , ... „ f certain war phnsef Would lv Mi,- : .ftiP. . Why "the wind tip'' 8I1l ; r „ ~- p.speriaMv. and why "awing:; the 'fid "' With regard to the H / latter," fhave asked numerous Diggers . "how it. originated, but none of them seem to have given much thought to the origin Of this war sla:>g." Perhaps some reader may hazard ar explanation of the war j Hi™** 65 referred to.