CHEAP BUTTER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19413, 23 August 1926, Page 6

CHEAP BUTTER

Sir, —Mr. Thornes says he fails to understand by what process of reasoning I arrive at the conclusion that it would be a wrong to artificially raise prices of fanners' produce. I arrive at it in this way. The present position has been brought about by placing most' of the townspeople On a non-competitive basis; They are consequently able to pass on their burdens, and as the farmers' returns are fixed by competition in the world's markets, he has finally to carry the lot. Mr. Thornes , admits that this is. wrong and he graphically describes where it is leading us to. His remedy is not to remove the cause of the trouble, but to pile up another one, which he admits will only deal with part of the wrong. It can be easily shown that it would not even do that. It would immediately bring about a rise in the cost of living, which would, of course,- be passed, on,, and by the time the whole'"vicious circle" had been turned the farmer would find that it had been all piled back on his shoulders, with something added for extra expenses. The whole system is wrong, and you , cannot put matters right by adding-to it. You must cut it out, root and branch. V A. A. Ross.

Sir, —All. that Mr. J. Thornes writes is correct except his assumption that the half-million obtained by taxing local butter would be of, more than temporary benefit to farmers., There would be ail: outcry from Labour—an outcry with an apparently very plain justification. Appeals to the Arbitration Court would follow, even the farmers would then have, no .ground for refusal of the workers" "just rights," and the load would be passed on till it rested on the exporters. Wo shall not get .anywhere iintil we realise that 'wealth comes from work and legislative fooling with values produces! nothing but universal inflation. -Everyone, with the probable exception of tho farmer, is doing less for more money and expecting legislation to put a quart of benefit into a pint pot ojf effort. . Common Sense.

Sir. —It seems to one that. your, corres! pendent Mr. J. Thornes, however earnest and sincere he may he-in fighting the cause of' the farmer, has failed entirely to hit the nail on the head. It must surely be plain to all that the root cause of the trouble at present is the utterly false price of land.. No business can possibly succeed where too high; a pricecompared with' returns, and leaving a. fair margin for fluctuations — foi; raw material. Surely that is the-position to-day, not only as regards the farmer,, but- the whole community. When th<i first deal of all is unsound, or unfair, alii must suffer, as all depend upon land products. Your correspondent would, surely not seriously suggest that the consumers of butter (local and abroad) should ' bti penalised again and again because, thtj farmer has made a bad deal. Nor, after viewing the' position clearly and' fairly., would he suggest that .■the Government,, as representatives of the people,, should bolster up the present extortionate priceii of land by assisting; and thereby encouraging, the farmer to pay-them. , J G. A., Harper. Hamilton. - .

Sir,—Personally, I think butter should sell here at or below ths price, of, our exported butter. The export .price should not have anything to do with it. Doe.'i the fruitgrower sell, hisfruit heire 'in tfcail; way ?- Or the sheep farmer his wool and mutton ? Of . course not. Still I /don'li think the dairy farmer.'would object set much if he could buy manures,.-etc., herd On ;a London parity. The price of raw phosphate here is much' lower thiti.'th« price in . London or. Sydney.... .Yet, at. .both these centres the manufactured article i» pounds - ■ cheaper.. ..Why.., is.', that ?.».f 'OE course the recent reduction is a step iri the i right - direction • but it is "a very smal l one, and makes no material difference, to the average user. W.M.H. '

Sir,—Mr. Ross' letter on cheap butter is very good, so far. as it goes, but I'cl like to ask Mr. Ross if lie is advocating free-trade. Free-trade or any step to.; ward it means a re adjustment of taxation. It means less revenue for- our Government from indirect taxation and that must be made up by higher taxation from direct sources. I'd just like to ask our farmer union friends who talk! glibly about free-trade how they aire to make up the millions we now get through our customs if we adopted free : trade The Hon. George Fowlds has a way to get it, but I rather doubt our farmei 1 friends do not like it! Our Labour Party also have suggestions about raising income tax, death duties and land tax instead of getting revenue through the customs. Let us hear Mr. Ross' method of adjusting taxation and then we cun judge if his way is not adding another wrong to try to make a right or not. Mr. Ross*' idea of business as conducted in these days also seems very hazy when he talks of everything coming down to a competitive basis'. He is living in .the before the days of trusts and combines. The days of competition are past except for trams and motor-buses. We either have to have our prices controlled by trusts or by the State. No one of us need be frightened of being called " a socialist any more than Mr. Grounds, of the Dairy Control Board is. Let the people themselves control the prices instead of the irusts. J. G. Barclay. Pukehuia.