THE BEST WAY TO KELP

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3137, 16 July 1917, Page 6

THE BEST WAY TO KELP

Sir,—l think that those who are so strongly advocating the continuance of the uispatth of i\ew Zealand Kemiorccmwits to tne lront have yuite lost sight of several aspects of the question.

To my minci, tho time has now conio when the Imperial authorities should bo asked if they want the production • u£ ioodatulfs and necessary raw material to bo maintained at a. maximum. It is obvious that production cannot bo kept at a high standard with a minimum o£ labour.

It is easy to talk glibly about sending the last man, but the great question that wo now have to ask ourselves is how .shall we best help the Old Country ? And 1 do not think there can be any doubt of the right answer to this question. It is by keeping up tho supply of food and other vitally necessary materials. A very large proportion of people at Home, men, women, and children, are employed in the making of munitions, ciotk&i, and many other tilings, and therefore I hold that" production from the land there must suffer, and it io our duty in the Dominion to see that this deficiency :s made up. Surely nobody doubts that if it became vitally "necessary, to send the Inst man New Zealand would do it, aud I maintain that no elur could justly be cast on her if her representatives decided, with tho concurrence of the Home authorities, that tho cause could best be furthered by the retention of at least a large number of the men who are still here. Thero is an idea amongst some people that farmers are the most favoured mortals in the world.. All they have to do is to watch tho wool grow on their slice]), and their crops growing, and when the proper time comes simply coin money by shearing the sheep and harvesting the grain. It doesn't seem to occur to them that there is any work, outlav, or worry connected with all this. . It mufit be born 2 in mind that when the war is over will bo the time when tic resources of this country will be tnxwl to the uttermost, and can this great doninnrt bo met if we drain it of all means of meeting its obligations?. We must remember tint thosj who have foiisrht for us must receive every consideration when they return, and Hip only way to do this is to keep things in as prosperous a state as po«iWo, ae blooil cannot be drawn from a stone. At the commencement of the war very few people out here thought it would last more than six months or a year at most, and certain arrangements were entered into re the dispatch of men. Tho position is totally different now. The war has lastcd over three years, and America, imon whwp help we didn't count, has now joined in. Are we doing right in eUon-jnff pur

prouucing capacity to go back when it should bo going forward?. One does not have to go far in any direction to see the depreciation of productive capacity that is going on everywhere through lack of labour on the farms. 1 maintain that where a man is working a small farm with comparatively little capital he should bo allowed lo remain on it, no matter how n't he i≤, as lie.is doing more good hero than by going to the front. Efficiency Boards are all very well. They are no doubt doing their utmost, but nothing they can do can replace the work of the man who Inus gone from the farm, ;is very few outsiders would take the personal interest that he did. I would suggest that the matter be carefully considered from all points before it is decided that to .send every available man is the

right thing to do. Britain is supplying many other countries besides herself with food and other necessaries. Tho comparative distances of New Zealand and America from the eceno of operations should be taken into consideration when it comes to the effective dispatch of men. If the lives of our boys now fighting are to be endangered by our lessening the number of men sent, by all means let us continue sending them, but such is not likely to be the case now. This war cannot be won by men alone. Food must play an important part in its decision.—l am, etc., G. F. MOOEE. Kai Iwi.