The Sun THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1916. COMMANDEERED MEAT.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 828, 5 October 1916, Page 6

The Sun THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1916. COMMANDEERED MEAT.

The meat producers of New Zealand have certainly been very badly treated by the Imperial authorities in connection with the disposition of the surplus meat over and above what is required for the Army. For the 12 months ended June 30 last the Dominion exported 156,582,8041b of mutton and 120,188,6961b of lamb. The Imperial authorities have hitherto made little or no use of the lamb at all. It has been commandeered along with the mutton at a fixed price, and turned over to the meat trade in London. This is where the speculator came in. Nominally the lamb was supposed lo be resold at a certain price, but suspicions began to be aroused when it was noticed that inferior Argentine lamb was fetching, about a penny a lb more than "Prime Canterbury." The transaction between the dealer and the retail butcher in London seems to resemble some of the wheat deals we heard about when Ihe Government first meddled with the price of .wheat. The farmer accepted the statutory price, but demanded and obtained something extra for the sacks. Evidently the London butcher gets whatever New Zealand lamb he wants at Ihe official price provided he takes a certain proportion of Argentine lamb along with il, at a price which is not subject to any Government regulations. Mad the Board j of Trade contented themselves with taking the mutton alone, and left the lamb to be sold on the open market : competition with the Argentine product, ii would have been worth hundreds of thousands of pounds to New Zealand, and the British consumer would not have been any j worse off. As it is, the middleman has come in and plundered the New Zealand producer whose interest in ' the meat ceased when il was taken | over by the Board of Trade. If the! New Zealand Government had been more alert, and more genuinely con-| cerned about the interests of the farmer, il would have insisted on freedom to dispose of the surplus meat in the open market long ago. Now that the Prime Minister is in England, and the farmers are showing a determination to put an end to the pretty little game which the middlemen have been playing ever since the war started, probably something will be done. The meet-! ing of farmers, held in Ihe Chamber I of Commerce yesterday, however, showed a disposition to go further and demand an increase of a penny per lb for all meat taken, including that used by the troops. We question Ihe wisdom of pressing this claim. It may be that the Imperial i authorities are compelled to pay! foreigners and the River Plate producers more than they are offering j Ihe New Zealand farmer for his mut-| ton, but if the saving being made at our expense contributes to victory over Ihe Germans we Should be content to accept Ihe monetary loss. After all, Ihe meat producer is doing) exceedingly well, and if the grievance regarding the disposition of the surplus is redressed he might very well lei it go at that for the present.

Since the great war opened our eyes to the wonderful results that followed on Germany's use of scientific research in her industrial and commercial life, there has been a fairly general demand that Britain and the Dominions should adopt a similar policy, and engage the assistance of her chemists and scientists, even as Germany has done, in developing established industries and discovering new ones. As Professor Kasterficld, in an interesting address last evening, pointed out, almost everyone he met nowadays believed in scientific research. It is a good sign to see our manufacturers and educationists manifesting this interest in the scientific side of our industries, hut for ourselves we would like to see a more practical and less academic concern for this important subject. We know now the tremendous benefits scientific research has secured for German commerce, while we deplore, most belatedly, Britain's disregard of the

same thing. • If New Zealand is to profit by Germany's example and Britain's mistakes, her Government, her scientists, and her manufacturers must go beyond the talking stage and do something. While as a manufacturing people we are yet in our infancy, there is ample room for experimental and research work in connection with our primary industries. In this field the Department of Agriculture has not been idle, and Professor Easterfield cited the case of the lands in the Waikato afflicted with what was called "bush sickness." After a considerable period of research a simple cure was discovered, and stock fed on this area immediately began to prosper. This may seem a small achievement when compared with what has been done in Germany, but it is only one instance of the good work that the department referred to has done, and is doing, for the man on the land. So far as our manufacturing industries are concerned, scientific investigation might well be left to those firms that could afford it. It is, unhappily enough, the policy of too many people to ask the Government to do what they could, and should, do for themselves, and this tendency requires suppressing. Meanwhile, we hope that some at least of all the talk about the need for scientific research in New Zealand will soon be translated into action.

When the chairman of the Recruiting Board, who is also the Minister of Defence, says that he has reason to believe that a number of reservists have not enrolled, those gentlemen who have omitted to perform that very important duly may take it for granted that the statement is only a euphemistic way of saying that the authorities definitely know those who are hanging back. To such people the Recruiting Board has issued a final note of warning. Though advantage is not to be taken immediately of the general provisions of the section which empowers a constable to question a man of military age, this will be done in specific cases where men are suspected of not having registered. Every man whose age makes him eligible for service must see that he is registered. This is a legal obligation binding on all. It will be quite useless for any man to attempt to evade this obligation, as the meshes of the Government's net are too small to permit of any escape. It is a little astonishing that able-bodied young men to any number, no matter how few, should need this pressing to do what is nothing but their obvious duty. They know what is happening, and has happened in France during the last few weeks. Our casualty lists have been painfully lengthy, and the gaps in the ranks have to be tilled immediately they are created. That there is no diminution of the fighting spirit of our soldiers was demonstrated to the full at and about Flers, and the best service New Zea-, land can render her gallant representatives iiKPicardy is to see to it that the quotas get away complete and to time. Since there is little chance of their escaping the eye of the authorities, it is hardly worth while the laggards and shirkers risking public exposure by dodging registration. It will surely not be good for a man's peace of mind to be discovered hiding, as it were, and forcibly taken into camp to begin training among his fellows who required no such pressure to get them into khaki. The Becruiting Board has given the suspects a last chance—they will be foolish not to take advantage of it.

"Germany," comments the military correspondent of "The Times," "wanted war; she is having it." The facts could not he more succinctly put, but it must be added that Germany wanted war only because of her belief that she was invincible and that the Allied nations were not prepared, and therefore unable, to resist her. Once the point of the Prussian wedge was blunted, once the Allies, having learned their lesson only too well, began to use their weight and their resources so judiciously as to start the enemy down hill to defeat, Germany's cry was not so much for war as for peace—on her own terms, perhaps, but peace. The disillusionment of the Prussian has been a costly business for the Grand Alliance, but it will soon be complete, and will not have to be repeated, in our time at least. The truth is that Germany is slowly strangling in an unrelaxing grip. The pressure at her throat will be maintained until she breaks down and begs for mercy. All the bombast and all the confidence has departed from her Press and people. Slowly the truth is permitted by the censor to reach the German citizens, who have made the supreme sacrifice that the armies might be kept in fighting trim* Despondency and a feeling of impotence are general. To-day the German journals arc allowed to point out the factor the British Fleet has been in holding the Allies together and neutralising Germany's victories in the field. It must be impossible for the people to misunderstand these hints of an allied victory, and no doubt one reason for the recent leniency of the German censorship is that it has been found necessary to prepare the civilian population for the worst, and veiled suggestion in the newspapers is the method adopted to effect this purpose gradually. The omens arc plain: Germany, the all-conquering, the arrogant, the would-be dictator of the world, is shaking at the knees. I