COSTS OF PRODUCTION.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20092, 22 November 1930, Page 16

COSTS OF PRODUCTION.

TO THE EDITOR OF THK PRESS Sir, —In your issue of the 19th, your correspondent "Fed TJp" gives an instance of costly handling of frozen carcases being transferred from the truck to the ship's hold. Some time ago, I myself saw a gang of eleven men engaged sending butter boxes down a slide to the ship's hold. I can assure you that three men without undue exertion could have transferred as many boxes per hour as the eleven men were allowing to pass through their hands. Also, on the Onehunga wharf, 1 saw a gang of men unloading scrap iron from two trucks, and pitching the pieces on to the boat. I have seen men pitching quoits put more vim and energy into their game than those men pitching horseshoes oh to the boat, in fact one man pitching a piece about ]Bin by 3in by lin lot it drop into the water; the foreman remonstrated with him, saying that iron could not swim, to which the man replied, "That's just what I think." I said to the foreman, "Is that wharfside union labour?" He replied, "You should have been here yesterday to see the commotion because one man got a bit of a scratch." On the same wharf I timed one man sitting on the side of a truck for fifty minutes waiting for some one to come along to help him to roll up three or j four tarpaulins and put them into as ' many empty trucks. I could give instances of similar littleness of j effort both oil tlio Wnneaniii anil Wellington wharves 1 have long since oome to the conclusion that protected Union labour on our wharves has produced a minimum of effort for a tnaxi- j mum pay. Those men know they have | federated Unionism behind thcin ; and ' the Arbitration Court to bolster up | what is called the "standard of | living." i Sir. the phrase is becoming as hacU- ' lieyed as an older one, the "downtrodden working man." that used to be such a glib expression by political place-seekers of vears gone by. "It's n lona: way t.o Tipperrarv," and the path is made more tortuous bv those who are sheltered bv the Arbitration Court; the irresponsible voters. To ' me, it is repugnant to hear politicians come nlonp and promises to give (liein Komefliinc that thov are going j to take from the other follow. Our present political predicament is the outcome of sueli past promises. After spending all our borrowed millions we shall lie told that there nro increased nppronriations. and that they must be provided for by increased taxation. Meanwhile, the primarv producers R"em to be outclassed bv tho*" Tvho ar<j Ruckinsr the orange, and the irresponsible voters. —Yours, etc., A.B. November 20th. 1930.

TO THE EDITOR Of THE TRESS Rir, —After reading Mr Shailer Weston 's nddress, one can only hope that some day our politicians will learn to speak and think with his lucidity. What a contrast Mr Weston's speech makes to I some of Mr Forbes's petulant utterances lin England. Mr Forbes is reported to j have made one remark that has caused | mo to think some hard and bitter things | of him. He is reported as saying: "Wc j don't think much of thoory in New j Zealand; we are a practical people," or words to that effect. It is a wonder he didn't add, "And wc don't believe in hook-learning either." I object, and object strongly, to hav- ■ ing my country branded as a country of such hopeless ignorance and conceit. It is hopeless of course to expect Mr Forbes to realise the necessity of reducing costs; theory and intelligent explanation mean nothing to the LiberalUnited school. The whole tradition of the Liberal school in New Zealand is a tradition of "borrow and everything will come right," as it did in Mr Seddon's day. It is as certain as anything can be, that the food-producing country that attempts to carry heavy costs, for the sake of bolstering up secondary industries, or simply as a means of taxation, is in for a bad time with the strong competition from countries that buy everything as they sell—that is at world parity values. It seems rather remarkable that while the whole world is discussing tariffs, the subject should have such a sm&ll place in the genera] and political discussions of New Zealand. The reduction of money wages but not real wages is most easily accomplished through a reduction in tariffs, the cumulative effects of which arc not fully appreciated by our general public. If an extra tax of, say, 2s per pair be put on boots, for instance, rt doesn't simply mean that we each have to pay an j extra 2s when we want a new pair of boots, it goes much further than that. In conclusion, I would like to suggest that a league or party be formed in New Zealand with the object of resisting the imposition of further costs, either through the tariffs, or otherwise, and to aim steadily at reducing our present burden. —Yours, etc., BRING DOWN PKICES. November 21st, 1930.