The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1916.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXVI, Issue 3572, 5 October 1916, Page 4

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1916.

RISING PRICES.

The £20,000 which the Board of Trade is estimated to cost the Dominion during the three years of iis existence is beyond question! a most scandalous waste of public money.. In spite of the optimistic reports which the Board has issued from time to time, the prices of many necessary articles of food, etc., are steadily rising., and the Wellington Chamber of, Commerce voiced the universal opinion of the public when it suggested that the Government should immediately cancel the engagements of the members of the Board of Trade* and put an end to the useless expenditure inyolved in their futile investigations. With regard' to the recent, increases in the price of petrol, 1 the-Board frankly admits that it cannot do more than " watch further rises most carefully." The same policy is being adopted with regard to other goods, but it cannot be regarded as a good stroke oi business for the Government to pay nearly £7000 per annum to three individuals to merely Match the cost of living rise '.higher and higher.. The latest article of food to be increased in price is butter, and with regard to this staple food product the position appears to be this: the Government has impressed upon the people that all sections of the community must be prepared to make sacrifices; the wage-earners have made, and are still making, great sacrifices, yet the dairy companies claim the right to increase the price of butter and cheese in order that they shall not have to sacrifice any profits. Clearly, this is a method of discrimination that is not in ' accordance with the principles of a "square deal," and which'the Government should not permit. The Government has said to the meat-producers of the Dominion: "You-must sell your meat to us at a fixed price," and therefore the dairy companies should not be accorded preferential treatment. The process or reasoning adopted by the representatives of the dairy companies who wailed on the Minister for Agriculture on Tuesday is an interesting example of topsy-turvy economics. They claimed that because the Home market is pre-' pared to pay up to 2d per pound more for butter than it is realising on the local market, the factories are losixg that amount on every pound they sell. Theoretically, they are; but at the present local retail price of butter the factories are netting a profit, over pre.;war rates, of at least 3d per pound. To talk of equality of sacrifice under such eircum-stunc-cs is sheer hypocrisy. There is a very high duty on imported butter," and this ought! o bo sudicient. protection for the industry. At any rate, its vftoctiven ess is proved b} the excessive price that the people have to pay at all times for this yory necessary article of diet. Firstgrade butter is Is 8d per pound in Ashburton, having been rni^ed by Id per pound this week. It is the same price in Wellington, but the dairy companies in I hat province are asking that an additional 2d.per pound bo imposed— not because they are not making a very large profit at Ihe existing price,' but because butter is worlb that sum on the Homo market.. By the same -'system of calculation, certain skilled mechanics m Sew Zealand should demand an extra 2s or 3s psr day for their services because the muni lion factories at Home arc paying Uifiil' employees an equivalent.

amount in wages above what. iiio New Zealand workers get. It is claimed that the war has upset all preconceived notions of values, but it has not upset the public s ideas as to what constitute reasonable prices. The dairy factories not only .ask for an increase in price, but they want the export, embargo removed. At tne present time, thousands of boxes of butter arc in the cool stores ot the Dominion, chiefly because oi the absence of shipping 1, the delay in obtaining export permits and tho refusal of the companies to sell locally because in their opinion the local unes w not high enough. >ow, it the Uo>erament is sincere in its expressed desire io mak, the cost ot living less heavy, it will refuse the companies'' request for tree trade and for power to increase the price. A dairy company- s annu.il balance sheet is not always a sate criterion upon which to base judgment as to the stability ot the industry. -The monthly payments to shareholders are fee only reliable guide, aud judged by this test, the dairy industry of the Dominion does not need any 1 more bolstering up from the Government, which has" a special obligation to see that the public are not unduly exploited. • •