The Pahiatua Herald. with which is incorporated THE PAHIATUA STAR. Published Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. MONDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1894. RINGS AND STRINGS.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume II, Issue 212, 8 October 1894, Page 2

The Pahiatua Herald. with which is incorporated THE PAHIATUA STAR. Published Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. MONDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1894. RINGS AND STRINGS.

Mu G. N. Oatway, in a lc*tt• t to the Evening Pn*ss, puts in plain language the doings of a combination of dealer' in binder twine whereby the price of the article is kept at an abnormally high price, or in other words a trust or ring has been form al of binder twine dealers, who have cornered the market and arc thus in a position to dictate the price at which it shall be sold. The h 'tul centre and apparently the moving spirit of this combination is the Hon. J. G. Ward, the Colonial Treasurer, who has earned a notoriety for reckless financing and plunging that will shadow him for the rest of his political life, which in all proba bility will he a very short one. With regard to hinder twine Mr Oat way’s statements are to the elFect that last year when fibre was dearer the price of this commodity was Id per lb, and this season it is IJd per lb; furthermore the twine locally made and from our own fibre is 2 : ,‘d per lb deliver d, freight and insurance paid, in Melbourne. The difference in the price is, according to Mr Oatway, the direct work of a combination of dealers. The Hon. J. G. Ward, who is pari owner of the Southland works, with Mr A. Lee Smith, managing director of the Dunedin works, to quote Mr Oatwav, attended a meeting held in Dunedin on the 27th April, which was :i.lso attended by one mortgage and four binder companie * ropr<> < ntatives. The maker' hound themselves to make tli.' price 7>d pr lb for home con sumption, 2 Jd deli vert'd in Melbourne, less a scale of discounts ranging from 2A per cent, to 17\ per cent, to tie large, dist ributor member-, of that ring who could take fifty tons or over. The ■ ! d! • 1 i • . ombinat.ion i ; to lax tin* New /'o n.i 'd i't.rrii Tk to the tune <»f • 11 ■ capacious pockets of J. G. Ward u i i (he other inemb rs of the ring. Mi Oii„ way’s datum nls are , ilßer true nr they are false. We incline to the opinion that 'E y an* correct, and irre finable. They certainly how the danger of I he eommunity from these unholy alliances. We. aie niarehimr on the mad of our American cousins, who by a sysh m of trusts, pools, rings and syndicates have evolved the millionaire. In America ho powerful have these combinations become that they are able to influence the legisln, lion of ih- country. The action of the Sugar Trust wlnn the Turin' Dili wns before the Senate is well known. Legislator were bon-lit, and their voles went as directed by the Trust. II we in New / aland do not stop the practice ol these liui-e-; then we may expect to he saddled with all the villainy associated with them in America. How does the lion. .1. G. Ward stand? A Cabinet Minister with profuse professions of concern lor the weilur* of the farmers m hia

public capacity and their relentless foe in reality ! Possibly he has done nothing in his official position that can be questioned, but how can he allay suspicion ? The Colonial Treasurer is treading dangerously near the precipice, and our only hope is that he may lose his footing and tumbledown. There is of course a way open to Mr Ward; lot him deny Mr Oatway’s statements or justify his action. vVe. are afraid he can neither do one nor the other. Now binder twine is protected by a duty, or in other words to encourage a local industry the community is taxed ; the hinder twine ring corners the market and taxes the community a second time, and the ring gets the greater part of the first tax and very nearly the whole of the second. This, we maintain, is morally wrong and should be made legally so. Parliament should either remove the tax and thus emasculate the ring, or such trade combinations should be penalised. The former course is the best in this instance, and it would conform to the wishes of tbo farmers, who, through their agricultural and pastoral societies, have requested the abolition of the impost.