The Waipa Post. Published on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 1922. STATE CONTROL OF SUGAR.

Waipa Post, Volume XXI, Issue 1282, 17 August 1922, Page 4

The Waipa Post. Published on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 1922. STATE CONTROL OF SUGAR.

NOT only in New Zealand is the price of sugar maintained at an artificial Ibasis by reason of Government interference with trade. The Minister in fcmarge of the Board of Trade comforts the public by comparing the price in this country with the price in Australia, where it is sixpence a pound. The price in the Commonwealth is -being maintained at that figure in order that the Government may extinguish a loss incurred ;by it in a business which it js not qualified to conduct. Resentment at its action is now being expressed in separate and independent attacks upon it 'from two different puarters in the Federal 'Parliament — attacks which, since they involve the co-operation of the Labour and the Country parties, threaten the existence of the Government. The history of the connection of the Federal Government with the sugar industry has its curious features. The agreement under which the Government controls the industry is directly traceable to the .policy of the discredited Labour Government in Queensland. Wages in the industry in that State were fixed at such a high rate 'that the planters declared they could not carry on . It was in these circumstances that Mr jHughes undertook that the Government of which he is the head would (take over the sugar business. It fixed a Wholesale and retail price which enabled the planters to continue, and at •Che same time guaranteed the payment pf wages upon the scale that, but for Government intervention, would have temporarily killed the industry. The effect is that tihe consumers throughput Australia are compelled to pay to the workers in the Queensland canefields a rate of wages that is not justified. At a time iwhen wages in lessjfavoured industries* are being everywhere adjusted to economic conditions this arrangement is exciting widespread resentment. The most signifi-

cant proof of this miay be discerned fin the fact that the Federal Labour party, in common with the Country party, is assailing the Government in connection with the .matter. The Government asserts that the transactions in sugar have caused a deficit of a quarter of a million, and it hopes 'to wipe this out by .maintaining the price at sixpence per lib until the beginning of November, when it promises a refluction of a penny per lib. There is t a. certain viciousness in this principle, the maintenance of which cannot be ■validly supported. In .Australia, as in j\ew Zealand, the time is overdue for the de-control of sugar.

THE MENACE OP. DISEASE. JUST after the Great War broke out tin eminent Russian physician prophesied that its ravages would by no means end with the ruthless slaughter it would occasion, as its afterliiiath of famine, disease, and pestilence would occasion greater devastation among mankind than even the scientific implements of destruction |could inflict. Unhappily the prediction seems within the realms of possibility. Russia itself is the source pf this potential danger; in fact, the present condition of that unfortunate country constitutes a menace to Europe, if not to the whole world. Dr Copeland, of the New York Board of JJealth, who recently toured the Rus-. sian frontier, declares, 'as a result of inquiries, that the whole of g/estern is threatened with ah appalling typhus wave in the near future. |He §aid he was no prophet, but he would be amazed if Poland was not swept by typhus or cholera next winter. Western Europe and America were also in serious danger, the latter owing to the 'large influx of European immigrants. This, be it remembered is not the first occasion when jwaves otf disease have come from (Russia, where plague, cholera, and typhus, nurtured in filth and strengthened by famine, do not wait for the slow development of such ,a factor as starvation before they spread (from the foci in every direction. It is here that the international menace of the conditions manifests itself. pTh'at appehension is" felt on this score is apparent from the proposition made that Germany with plenty of the necessary scientific equipment, 'should establish a sanitary cordon along the frontiers, ojf 'Russia, the (value of these services being set off kgainst reparations. Lately the cato--ses have been silent on this proposal, jbut that it was made indicates theexistence of fears that the pestilence (will spread 'as hinted at by Dr Copeland. With the experiences of the epidemic still fresh in our minds, even we in New Zealand should guard against a possible visitation by keeping our house in order, especially during the forthcoming summer months. Prevention is always? better than cure.>