LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1174, 8 July 1911, Page 7

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

4 —-— ■■■•• "THE ALLEGED BUTTER RING." Sir,—lt has been somewhat amusing to those of us in the trade to read the reports xin the press of tho various statements.'made 01 lato'of the supposed existeiico of a butter ring. Evidently, the laws'.'of supply: and,demand are: quite ignored, in New Zealand. Because some factory-manager residing somewhere about Wangunui dared to prophecy that buttei would, in his opinion, reach Is. Gel. per lb. before the winter was over, the''Wellington public seem to -think-that son;e iniquitous persons aro leagued together to exploit them; I notice that Mr. M'Laren and .others have approached the Minister to declare butter under the .Monopolies Act, and to remove the existing duty on imported butter. A statement has been made that butter bought in Sydney at about lid. can be retailed in Wellington at Is. L'd. per lb.-- As it is evident this butter would cost wholesale rather more than Is. lid. lb., it leaves the retailer a very large margin of profit at Is. 2d., does it . not? Tho question, however, is on what grounds, have Iho'-YY'ellington public cause for' grumbling. Wo and others havo been supplying the wholesale trader at, is. Old.-per lb., less's per-cent., and are Btill "doing so, but. we regret'being unable, to continue doing so,, as. we have, not-tho'butter. Where, then, is the ring. 1 spoken of? Wo aro certainly not mem-, hers of it, but unfortunately owing,to the drought, and rapid approach, of. winter following same, our supplies are less than one-third of what we usually have, and w.-yhavo been' unable :>. to provide sufficient for our usual customers, and havo to turn down orders every day, no mattor what price is' offered. •■ Others, no doubt,',are similarly situated; in fact, the cows'.have formed a ''labour union, and have ' refused 'to supply the milk. At .best' wo,can only keep a portion of our customers supplied until the end 01 July, and if an early. spring. does not eventuate, butter' -will be - in very short, supply indeed in August." Now for' the manufacturers' side of the' question; Each" pound of butter, we are now making is costing ns over ,Is. 6d. at our factory; we are selling at, say, Is. Id., so are fast becoming rich beyond, the dreams of avarice, and are therefore desirous to retire and are hoping that the State, .may take' up Mr. M'Laren's suggestion, to establish State factories. We shall !be pleased to be the company taken overly the .State,-and are prepared to discuss business forthwith; if the Minister, is open to deal. We might, also suggest that Mr. M'Laren be appointed managing director, arid so solve the problem of satisfying the farmers, the employees, and grant cheap butter to tho Wellingtonpublic' ' ■' • - ' Mr.; M'Laren is, I think, a great labour champion. Would ho Wish us to dispense with our men? Wo pay .£240 per month cash'wages, besides finding the men hohso rent free and milk free. Just '. now, owing to tho cows havihg gone on strike, wo are making 90001b. butter per month. This will-be less in July, so that you can see it is costing us Gd. per lb. for cash wages alone, and oven if wo reqeired Is. ,6d. for it in Wellington wo should'still be selling at a loss. . i : Now for the. farmers' side of the question.-:.. I'venture to-say that there are few, if any. dairy farmer's in the droughtstricken' districts that will be able to make.'ends. meet. Yet Mr. M'Laren. iu : his one-sided view.aiftl Liberal zeal, would put another.ld. iutlje £ on their improved values in direct taxation. May I asKwhat for—is it in'order to cheapen butter?,. Why "does hot-'Mr. '.M'Laren go dairy-farming -himself," and help to produce the cheap butter 'needed,?.: Sure-. Iy : ho should do his quota towards it. My apology, Mr. Editor, for writing this letter, is that the people w;ho are making the squeal are not conversant with the true position. I was surprised to read the reported": remarks of -Mr.' David Nathan, who irave his views',that therf ter 'ring-..-I-ve'rilifAS'to' express':an-opin-ion' that the firm of which .the geutle- ; man iff question is-head- of at the pre-, sent-time-controls-a? much -butter - as any- one other individual firm in New Zea'land,"M't, -of ; 'c6tirse, no-"one" knowing Mr. Nathan would think of suggesting that he would associate himself with a ' butter ring. If J am wrong, and that they too .are short of butter, then he has been .caught napping this'time, and, like the rest of us, at the mercy of the cow.. Now, as regards the removal of the duty I on Australian butter. ...I do not think any farmer or' merchant cares a brass button whether,it is removed.or not. If New Zedlhrid supplies aro sufficient, it cannot cohipete against it; if New Zealand sup-plies-are insufficient, the producer's don't ' care a bean whether ihe-'W 7 ellin'gtori'p'uk , lie eatvAustralian butter or any butter at...a 11. ■ They ■ ran cat.::troacle .if-.it is cheape'r, and suits, their palate. At the present, time -Wellington..is : geltin? its j nutter''cheaper...than, any other city in ; Ac.iv Zealand, and . the ; public - howling, louder than any other: place..: Why. not boycott butter for,a.month or two Thanking you in anticipation-I am' etc., ... ' v ■-...' .J. BURT VEALE, Managing Director Hawke's Bay -Dairy Co., -Ltd. Woodville, Juno 19th, 1911. ~yye''regret that.through an oversight this letter has. been delayed in publica- ' tio'n.J . / CONSUMPTION AND ITS TREATMENT. Sir,—Like, I suppose, many another, I havo during the past few weeks been looking forward with expectation to the meeting of tho Hospital Boards of the Dominion, in conferenco in Wellington and now when the lo'oked-I'or time has come, there is disappointment. It was to be expected that.ttie above subject would form ouo of tho most important items for discussion, and Mr. Honell is to be congratulated on the masterly way in which he opens the attnek. It has been generally recognised that tho North Canterbury Board is in the forefront of the fight, and I think that the remarks of its chairman and Dr. Blackmoro aro full of interest. As to tho. question of whether it is better to have many or few. sanatoria,' I do not propose to'say,.much,, audi will pass with the remark :that it is,'l think, generally conceded that'-'sufferers should 1 be'treated under as nearly" as possible tho same climatic conditions as thoso in which they have subsequently to live. Therefore I think a sanatorium adjacent to each large centre .would give the best results, arid. tho. relative cost would ho Jess than with a number of smaller institutions. Of course,: industrial camps are a necessary adjunct of the sanatoria, and classification; of cases is also necessary. But I do not intend to dwell on,details of the scheme which "can be "satisfactorily arranged forJjy the"medical.fraternity.: What I wish to protest against is tho whole, matter being referred back to the Health- .Department, in terms of the resolution .which closed tho subject at tho conference. The Department of Public Health sprung into existence during the late Mr. Seddon's term Df office, and has continued up to the present moment through varied experiences. Not long since, retrenchment struck tho various- Government De- ! partments, and because it was Iho Department which did not appeal to the casual observer, the Health Department suffered greatly. .'There wero various upheavals, and different officers wero dispensed with, and the work redistributed. I do -not propose to go into tho matter in a general way, but merely as it refers to the subject in hand. When the change came, there wero. in Auckland province two. institutions for Ihe treatment of consumption, viz., Cambridge Sanatorium and Karere Camp. With the advent of Hie new regime came changes. Cainbridge Sanatorium was—"not a success"? —no—"was costing too much money," therefore it must suffer. Karere Camp-— the Minister for Public Health said in May, 1900, that it was a great success, although hardly past the experimental stage, yet it could be looked upon a new departure which was going to prove a great good. "Karere" means "forerunner." WhaC has happened to the "fore-runner"? It is dead, ■ dead as Caesar—killed by parsimony. To return to the sanatorium. What is its condition? Three years ago it had a splendid report, right throughout the Dominion. The responsible officers and tho nursing- staff, had the confidence'of the patients and of tho. country, -Applicants for admission were so numerous that they frequently had to wait soine weeks for admission., What is the position to-day?

Tho institution is not half-full, and its fair name is gone. Retrenchment, must be carried out, even at the cost of huninn lives, ami tho first essential for tho success of such a place, its good repute, has gone. To those who have been interested., who have watched the fight and rejoiced in the successes, it is indeed very sad to see such n, state of things. And why should it all be? Are wo'not totd periodically about "large surpluses," "general prosperity," etc., etc. ? and yet our public institutions are starved. it is a national disgrace. (501110 time ago I was delighted to sec some questions asked in the House as to Cambridge Sanatorium, but it is grieving to find that the interest was merely momentary, and tho pcoplo have been lulled to sloop.by the statements of 11 Minister who, I prefer to think, is ignorant of tho true state of affairs. My appeal is: Popularise sanatoria, chest hospitals, or whatever you like to call them. Do not allow a Government which grudges ordinary comfort to sick people, to continue to defame our public institutions. Let us rise as a people, and demand better treatment for our consumptive brothers and sisters. Last year, wo arc told, there were 700 deaths from this scourge, 'and only 556 notifications of cases. The first of these figures means that 700 persons died of a preventable disease; the second . means that there were 556 persons notified as being in the grip of this disease—thoso 558 might be saved if treated properly, ] and might also be prevented from endangering any other member of society. To my mind, there havo during the past two years, been, as a, result ,of the present policy, at least 120 persons who might ■ have'been treated and prevented from Infecting others, allowed to grow worse— probably die—in which case, according to Dr. Hardwiek ' Smith, 240 persons who otherwise would never have shown evidences of tubercular trouble, have been infected. * • Their Excellencies, Lord and Lady Islington, have shown great interest in such subjects since they came to this country, and it would indeed be a consummating good if under their patronago this young and marvellously healthy country, were to establish a comprehensive national crusade against the "great white plague."—Trust you will find spaco to insert this,—l am, etc., WILLIAM TELL. 'Hamilton, June 20, 1911.