THE TRUTH OF BUTTER

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 7, 4 October 1920, Page 6

THE TRUTH OF BUTTER

ALSO COST OF LIVING ALSO SOCIAL SERVICE ' A FEW COMPARISONS Article No. 111. (Published by Arrangement.) "He knows as much about as a cow knows about-a holiday," is a phrase sometimes used to indicate tho breadth and depth of somebody's ignorance of a su'bjact. Further point could be given to the phrase by the insertion of "a dairy farmer's" before holiday. He may have as much respect as any civil servant for any saint, but he cannot stop work in honour of a saint. The dairy,, farmer may be an exceedingly religious man, eager for a strict observance of Sunday, but his oows are not religions; t.lvev do not savo-Sunday's milk for Monday. When tho miner stops .work to discuss railway fares, 6coond-class e-irriagos, or the unwillingness of somebody to pay a levy towards maintaining men in yearlon® idleness at Broken Hill, the butter producer goes on with his job. He does not. quit serving the community. When the watersider stops work to elect his officers or to discuss n point of pay or a' condition of employment, the dairy farmer carries on os usual, but there is said to bo more rosentment among the public against the just claims of hard-working men, who have never cased their faithful «rvi*e +o the public. than there is against the watersiderf and tho miners. , Paralysing New Zealand. Strikes, and "go-slow" at the minea have caused a subs-tantial increase in tho cost of living, and a decrease of comfort in nearly every home of New Zealand. There has been a serious disorganisation of industry and much unemployment as the result of the greatly diminished output ot the" mines. A few years ago an organiser of the Miners' Federation threatened to "paralyse New Zealand from Auckland to tho Bluff." This is the kind of industrial paralysis which the. coal shortago is gradually causing. The men who are prompting and promoting this paralysis of New Zealand Bay that they are striving for a "Brotherhood of Man." What about the hardship and''suffering caused in tens of thousands'of real workers' homes during tho past winter by the shortage of coal ? "\V'hat about .the extra cost of living? Every now and then the miners in ona or other part of the Dominion—and frequently injeoveral places simultaneously —havo stopped working for the community. Did tho community stop working for the stop-workers?. Did the bakers stop baking for them? Did the weavers and tailors stop making clothes? Did the dairy faVmers stop making butter for them? The miners accepted all these services us a matter of right and stopped work to show their gratitude. Compare this social disservice with the social service of tho dairv farmer, and compare also .the regular solid service of this real working class with the occasional social disservice of tho waterside stop-workor. ' Shake the Vials of Wrath Fairly. If tho people of Netv Zealand wish to beoome iudignaut about any class which ib not giving a fair and square deal • from the viewpoint <of social service, it should begin with, those who most deserve nay outpouring of wrath. The vials would need a good shaking upon

many heads before the turn of the dairyman would coma for a sprinkling. If the people take thought, if tliey look at tho facts of the past year or two, they will admit the truth of the preceding statement;. If tlio watarsiders of Wellington follow their custom; they will hold a stoptfork meeting to consider any increaselong overdue—that may be granted dairr farmers for their butter. They may cry out.aa loudly as anybody against the granting of justice to this country's hardost working class, but surely such a cry will come ill from tho waterfront. Will tho watersiders not see the humour of it? It is not long since Colonel Mitchell, M.P., quoted figures to show that tho social service of the average watersider in Wellington is hardly half what it was a few years ago. Tlie plain truth —which the watersider knows better

than anybody else—is that he receives much more pay for much less work. _ • Ho was indignant at the publication of Colonel Mitchell's figures, but he lm» not disproved theni—for the simple reason that he cannot. Who Gives the Best Service? The relativo 60cial services of miners and wateraidcrs, by contrast with those of dairy farmers, are only two of many facts about which the public should think deeply before it burets into indig-' nation about the one unmistakable working class—the butter producers. let the peoples' thought go to many common nocossaries of life (except butter). _ Has not the price of many been multiplied by two and the quality divided by two? I'he combined effect of the increase of price and the decline in quality is that the real cost—the cost in use—of soma articles is three or four times ns much as it was a fow years ago. Butter i» the one 6plendid exception. It is complained sometimes that the best meat is exported, and that only inferior grades axe TC-lainekl in New Zealand. AVhether that is true or not, it is an unquestionable fact that sufficient first-quality butter is kept in New Zealand for' the people hero. Men who have, travelled the wide world say emphatically that no other country has such an all-round quality of butter Service as New Zealand. In the United States of Amcriea one receives. a beautiful carton; the wrapper id ii treat to the eye—a great credit to tho artist and the printer—but th'e oonte-nts do not come up to the appetising picture on the outside. In New Zealand. the wrapper is neat and good—but the main delight is for tho palate. The people go ekewhero than to tho grocer's shop for their pioturw. In America ,th«* price of butter has long been much liigher for nn inferior article than the New Zealand rate' for first quality.

Ho the people think of this when tho spasm of indignation comes upon.them? Ho theyi think of tho dairy farmer's steady social service ? Do they think of ■his work in tho wilderness, his conquest of: rough places, his fight against all manner of- difficulties in the winning of wealth for New Zealand? For it is wealth for New Zealand. Let any man or woman think of the use and distribution. of tho dairy farmers' return from his strenuous toil and tho thinker will admit that no class in this country makes a better use of his profit, iu a national sense. Work and "Profit." "Profit" is" not tho right word to use for. many a dairy farmer. His return Can b-j better described us profit. A calculation, published vecjyitly, shows that U a miner (on a basis of ,£1 10s. (ijd. per shift—the average al tho Pukemiro mine) worked the 6ame Iwurs as tho dairy iarnier. tho whole year round, his wages would amount to about JB7OO in the twelve mouths. Viceversa, if the dairy farmer received tie same scale of paj-, ho would have £7W to set against his labour. The miner would have no interest to. pay on capital and no maintenance charges against his- earnings. How ..many of the small dairy farmers would dearly like i7OO net on a year's operations? If a carpenter worked the same hours as . tho dairy farmer, at the present rate of 2s. b'd. per hour for ordinary timo with extra yato for overtime, his earnings would bo about not for 12 months. Similarly a general labourer would net about .£350. But plenty of small dairy farmers cannot make .£350 against their labour after they have met all the costa (interest, maintonanoe, nnd other items) ohargeable to a year's operations of their farms. Let tho' publio think of those things before it allows itself to bo swayed into the infliction of injustice on men who givo loyal, ceaseless social service—tho butter producers, "Be true to your class," has been a Labour slogan. What is the "class"* If tho cry means anything it should be, "He true to the real working class—not tho go-alow class, not tho strike class:" Tho butter producers are pre-eminently the working class to-day. IThe fourth advertisement of this series (fill appear in to-morrow's issue. Articlijs I and II were published on Friday | and Saturday respectively.!