COST OF LIVING

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 28, 27 October 1917, Page 6

COST OF LIVING

Sir,—Will you kindly give me a small space in your valuable,paper for just tho last word on this nauseous subject on which 1 suppose enough ink has been used to flout a. decent-sided battleship. Why don't peoplo do something instead of writing and talking, bewail) ng their woes? 'I'iie whole thing is summed "U]i in one word—co-operation. K-ea), not sham co-operativo stores, co-operative farms, and co-operative banks. There you have it iu a nutshell. When the lato Mr. Soddou was Home on tho Conforeuco in J9OJ, I wrote him a long letter on the produce question, and I had a. Ion;; chat.with .him on the wharf at Plymouth before he went on board the Tongariro to como home; and I pointed out to him'that until the New. Zealand producer kept his produce in his own hands until it reached tho consumer, and entirely eliminated the- middleman, he would never, get anything like full value for it. That is the only way to beat the speculator,,'and. the beef trust. I said so then, , and f Bay so how. Ho quite agreed with me except on one point; That was, lie wanted to make it a Government job. I wanted to make it a ■ co-operative. Well, wo know' the result. He cme homo here and submitted it to Pnrliainoljt> and they simply jumped on him. Had he started it as a co-operative schoiho it would have gone by leaps and bounds, and there would havo been biany millions of money more in Hew Zealand than there is to-day: I had it on good •authority that a man made in one ,year by simply buying in tho morning and selling, in tho afternoon, without'toucmng the produce. Also, that three men. who took a two years' Army contract and could hardly find money to finance their first month, retired on a competency, at tho end of two years. . I have it on good authority that New Zealand butter is almost unprocurable m London, and tho reason given was that it all bought up for -blending pur--I'?SS?'SS?' we N remember buying a pound of. New Zealand butter (so-called) at the Home and Colonial Store in Plymouth, after it hod been "blended" evidently, an ? ! oal i say conscientiously that it was only fit for eart-grcase; and when I complained the shopman said: "Oh, the New Zealand butter is tho worst butter we get Aow, what the peoplo of A"ow Zealand want to do is to wako up, and <lo something, and now is tho accepted time; and get everything in going order ready for the end of the war. If you take my advice you will keep tho Government out of it, only to tako ui shares. Do it yourselves—and do it now J-his is an opportunity which only occurs onco m a century. Show. a. "little solr-reliance, and not run to the'Governmeat like children running to their mothers; and don't bo "gulled" by the meat trust forcing up the prices of 'meat Remember, it's a case of "Will you walk ],Z, m Z P arl °"i'. said the spider to tin Uy ;, }™ will find you are dealing with lw? ] \ clothing," and you Hill find out to your cost that you have been miserably deceived. "From all deceits ot the world, the flesh, and Devil good Lord deliver us." Thanking you in anticipation,— I am, etc. . THOS. IASKET.