THE N.Z. LEGION.

Southland Times, Issue 22008, 6 May 1933, Page 7

THE N.Z. LEGION.

.j To the Editor. Sir, —I notice in the advertising s columns of your edition of Wednesday 3 morning meetings of the New Zealand Legion called for in several country _ towns. I understand that meetings to s further the formation of the Legion are s being called all over New Zealand and » one was held in this city a short time j ago. This meeting received very fav--3 curable comment the following day in 3 your sub-leader. Now, Sir, as one of 1 the uninitiated I have been endeavour- . ing to find just what the legion stands 3 for and-1 cannot for the . life of me discover what the whole thing is about. 5 The following facts which I have gleaned from various sources may be of interest to readers. There was a 5 private meeting of the Legion called ! in Wellington at the inception of this ' business. Some seventy delegates at- ' tended, many coming from all over 3 the country. The meeting was held in i the Wellington Chamber of Commerce ' Hall and the chairman of that meeting ' was the chairman of the Wellington ' Chamber of Commerce. It was sug- “» gested at that meeting that democracy had failed and as political methods ' were far too slow to meet the crisis, ' a semi-military organization should be ‘ formed. It was suggested that an ap--1 peal should be made to the King to allow the Governor-General to suspend - the Constitution of New Zealand and i call a Government to be set up to - govern by proclamation. In order to - break the farmers’ control of the legiss lature it was suggested that a LIMr ITED franchise should supersede the > universal one. Both these suggestions ) were enthusiastically received. In J order to achieve this object and break : the stranglehold on the political ma- ■ chine it was necessary, it was urged, E that the Importers’ Association, the ■ Employers’ Federation and the Charni bers of Commerce, all of whom were t represented at that meeting should ■ combine and work under the leader- : ship of the Chamber of Commerce. While the necessity for secrecy about . the real aims of the legion was stressed by those present, one gentleman who ■ was present, felt it his duty to reveal i these facts to the public. These facts . as stated above can be borne out by '■ Messrs Shirtcliff, Morpeth, Stallworthy, , M.P., and Rushworth, M.P., who were , present at this private meeting. i From hints which have been let drop it appears that New Zealand is ■ in danger of being ruled by a dictatorship, something akin to Fascism , and . although some of the ideals of the Legion may be good there is a possibility of the whole thing being taken out of the hands of Dr. Campbell Begg (who I understand is sincere in his ideals) and controlled by the reactionary capitalistic administration at present in power in this country. Although the Legion is alleged to represent all shades of political opinion I wonder if any supporters of Mr Holland, or if any Labour M.P’s. have been invited to these “spooks meetings” held in the homes of Reform supporters throughout the Dominion. Hoping that the local secretary of the Legion can throw some light on this matter, and apologizing for taking up so much of your valuable space lately. —I am, etc. BRER RABBIT. [The Legion is in no sense a military organization, nor has it any military forms. It has not attempted to shape any programme. When it does it will

make the details public. Our correspondent is unduly nervous.—Ed. S.T.] THE BATTLE OF THE BREEDS. To the Editor. Sir, —Mr Bourchier in his letter in your issue of April 11, asks the question, “How does Mr Kalaugher account for the fact that as the Jersey increased in numbers here the quality of Southland cheese has also improved. Twenty years ago there were practically no Jerseys in Southland, and we had 3 or 4 per cent, second grade cheese. To-day with the grade raised two points, we have something under one per cent..” May I, in reply, draw Mr Bourchier’s attention to the fact that 20 years ago there were only two grades for cheese—first and second—so that allowing 4 p.c. as second grade (Mr Bourchier’s estimate) there must have been 96 per cent, of Southland cheese classed as first grade. Nowadays, there are three grades—finest, first and second grade—and last season’s grading figures for the South Island are:— Finest grade. First grade. Second grade. 61J P-c. 37j P-c. i P-c. So your readers will see that over 38 p.c. of South Island cheese last season did not reach the highest grade.

Canada: The figures I quoted regarding the number of cattle of various breeds were the latest procurable official figures. Mr Bourchier now states that if I produced 1932 figures I would see that the so-called yellow milk breeds are rapidly getting ahead in Canada. What does Mr Bourchier think of these figures:— Registration of Purebred Animals in Canada. Ihcr. 1926 1930 p.c. Holstein-Friesians 18,625 22,400 *2O Jerseys 4,626 5,088 $lO •over, This shows the Friesian rate of increase as being double that of the Jerseys. Mr Bourchier deals with soft curd milk, but in quoting Professor H. H. Mitchell, of the University of Illinois, he omits the following vital statement made by

■ that authority—“ Curd character of 3 milk is an individual characteristic of ■ the cow and is fairly uniform for each > cow during each and successive lactal tion periods.” I referred Mr Bourchier : to an article on soft curd, milk by Dr. i R. L. Hill, in the Guernsey Breeders’ ■ Journal of December, 1932. Mr Bourchier asks: “Why quote a biased opinion?” Does Mr Bourchier not understand that the article was actually written by Dr. Hill himself. In what vzay could his opinion be biased? Mr Bourchier is wandering away from the main points of the question. These main points are:— New Zealand cheese does not in gen- , eral meet the requirements of the i people of Great Britain. South Island cheese is of superior i quality to North Island cheese. i In practically no country, except New !

Zealand, is there much high-testing milk used in cheese-making. By far the largest part of South Island cheese is made from lower testing white milk. An equitable system of payment for milk for cheese making is imperatively needed. The present system of payment on butter-fat only is unjust. There is a very marked change of opinion in dairying circles in the North Island on this matter. For example, at a meeting of the executive of the South Taranaki Farmers’ Union at Hawera on April 11, it was resolved by a two to one majority that a more equitable system of payment should be adopted and that suppliers be paid on the cheese value supplied. There is no doubt that in the near future the demands of the Ayrshire, Shorthorn and Friesian dairymen for an equitable

system of payment will be granted and that action will soon result in the improvement of the quality of New Zealand cheese. —I am, etc., J. P. KALAUGHER, Secretary, N.Z. Friesian Association. May 1, 1933.