DIFFERENT METHODS OF "DOING"

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 146, 15 March 1919, Page 8

DIFFERENT METHODS OF "DOING"

t Sir,—"Wake yourself, shake yourself, do," is, says "Progress." tho progressive' e impulse that should fire us New Zeas landers with a wish to get ahead in 0 every department. Well, the "doing" is , very obvious. For a pair of boots of "leather" (so-called) which wear through s ill six weeks, I pay 355., as compared s with 255. before the war. Pollard is 225. per sack, wheat 3s, per bushel, as compared with - 9s. Gd. and 2s. 3d. respecs lively some ten years ago. For kcroseno . I pay 19s. per case, put up in tins, so e thin they leak at the joints, as com--0 pared with 9s. 6d. pre-war price. Corrugated iron is about as dear agaiu, and j, half tho quality; paint the same. In 0 fact, you may safely say that the dictum "price doubled, quality halved," may " T be applied to most things. But putting aside the merchants' "doing"—and 110 ono can justly accuse them of slackness . in this respect—let us turn to the land . question, and here the "doing" is very obvious indeed. Laud is being sold hero to-day at «a price far above what even ! tho abnormal values caused by the war can return a fair interest upon. Passing ' through tho magnificent country between ' Hawera and Stratford the other day, I ; remarked on the beauty and fertility and C boundless resources of ouch a country k with such a climate. "Yes," said my : vis-a-vis, "tho country's alright, but there aro hundreds of farmers hero working their wives and children to death to pay tho high prices the land is bringing. 1 It only benefits a handful of people who 1 are living in the towns on the rents." More "doing" here, Mr. Editor! No, : Mr. Editor; energy is alright, progress ' is good, co-operation is right; but until ' these things T have enumerated are al- ' tered it is all so much energy wasted ' and misdirected. The foundations of the ' social structure are unsound, the con- : ditions and terms aro for the average 5 man unfair. No "go-aheadness" is of 3 any uso until wo have settled under ' what conditions we aro prepared to con- * tinuo our social energies.—l am etc., t X. ' March 1.1, 1919.