TOWN AND COUNTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19396, 3 August 1926, Page 6

TOWN AND COUNTRY.

Sir,—There should l.»e 110 inherent feeling or need of opposition between town and country. The fanner is essential, and so is the carrier, railwayman, waterside worker, sailor, merchant, lawyer, carpenter, plumber, etc. The feeling of opposition creeps, in when one circle of workers claims, ynd gets, remuneration for its services., on a disproportionately higher scale than the other. Over SO per cent, of New Zealand's revenue is derived from her primary produce—so the primary producer .it is who is " paying > the piper." But lie is not calling the, tune. The. workers of Mew Zealand's Subsidiary industries are living in a world of inflated money values, bs compared with her primary producers. The aim is as much pay as possible for as little work-as possible. This does not mean that these workers are all living in a land of plenty, for each bites the other. The shop assistant,, for instance, gets his award rate of pay, but he has to pay his butcher, bootmaker, drtiper, carpenter and plumber (in rents), etc., equally high rates, and when one set gets a rise it soon goes round. Then, on account of the more congenial conditions of work and pay in these industries, compared with the primary industries, they become overstocked, so that each cannot sell the full output of his services. Thus there may be ten dentists or lawyers where half coula do all tho work,offering. I'hen again the disparity in payment hinders the progress and development of the country. A farmer might want the services of carpenters, plumbers or mechanics, but he cannot' afford to sell his own work on a low scale and pay their high one; therefore he leaves the work undone, or withdraws his own labour from his farm work and does what lie can to complete these other jobs, which means his farm suffers, his buildings and machinery are less efficient, and there is less work offering for the tradesmen. The farmer aims at getting as much work done as lie can, and living as economically as he can. Were New Zealand's staple industry run under award rates of pay and work our country would be bankrupt—not a pound of butter, cheese or wool could be sold abroad except at a loss. Were those who talk of the farmers' unearned increment to set out and develop a piece of virgin land under union rules and rates of pay and work, they would find that the average Ntjw Zealand farm carries no unearned increment, but rather the reverse. How long the one circle of workers will go on artificially inflating the selling value of their services which the other set of workers have to pay it is difficult to say, but the faster the pace the sooner the end. A. H. Jeffs. Mangatawhiri.