CHEAP BUTTER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19417, 27 August 1926, Page 8

CHEAP BUTTER.

Sir, —With, your permission I would like to take up the thread of the argument put forward by Mr. J. G. Barclay in your issue of August 23. In replying to* Mr. A' A. Ross, ho says: "The days of competition are past, except for tra,ms i*nd buses." This is too wide a generalisation. Competition is still a factor in our social, industrial and political life. The crudity and barbarity of induiitrial competition have, however, been mitigated by an advance in our ethical conceptions and laws. The basic wage or share, as determined by the Arbitration Court, is an attempt to protect the landless from exploitation by the landowner. This does not necessarily, mean the land worker, who himself often needs this protection, and is entitled to it in equity. The landowner may be a private individual or a corporate company, whose money may bo invested in land, and who is often more to be pitied than blamed for the price or sunt supposed to be secured. I say supposed advisedly, because' values are often fictitious, but whether real or unreal, fair or unfair, the land worker must bo the "chopping block," or one of the individuals affected by these interest payments, which would also more adversely affect the secondary industry worker only for the Court award. This was clearly seen by Mr. Henry George, who brought forward a plan to secure some portion of this unearned: increment for the State. I have no brief for a site value tax alono trirl I would point out that there are other forms of exploitation and monopoly quite as detrimental as usury, whether obtained from land investment or ships, singletaxers to the contrary, notwithstanding. All thi3 may appear discursive, but land prices react upon the cost of living, and the land worker is caught in tlio vortex of the vicious circle of prices. It seems to me that having gono so far as to fix the money wage in industry, it will bo necessary to fix also prices, in very many lines, and as interest is calculated upon prices, the interest share would then bo subject to somo control. Our present insane striving to get better prices instead of better production is largely responsible for the clash of town and country, but the real fight is between wages and interest. The discussion so far has centred around the price of butter sold locally, but I take it that this one article if typical of farm produce generally. Private ownership and private enterprise are necessary in our present social development, but private enterprise in somo directions is detrimental to the welfare, of the community, «-uid is often a form of highway robbery that needs to be put under control. Smaller farms or cheaper manures will not do the job, nor regulating the basic wage by agricultural returns. Farmers who want cheap labour can employ Hindoos. 1 E. N. D.