TOPICS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 143, 14 December 1927, Page 10

TOPICS OF THE DAY

Addressing the, Civic League meeting last night, the Mayor gave an outline of the work done by the present Council. He dealt briefly with many subjects which have received attention, and the information he gave was possibly not new to many of his hearers or to other citizens who take an intelligent interest in the city's work. But he said enough to impress the average ratepayer with a sense of the amount and importance of the work devolving upon councillors. The Council has, indeed, been far from idle in the past, seven months. It has accomplished much, and has prepared the way for greater achievements. In the past we have not withheld criticism when it has appeared to us that the Council's policy has been mistaken; but we freely acknowledge that the Mayor and Council have endeavoured earnestly to advance the city's best interests, and have not spared themselves in the task. With the additional and heavy burdens thrust upon them by the winter unemployment they have yet in seven months made substantial progress with the reorganisation of municipal services, and the solution of some difficult problems. Citizens who freely exercise their right to criticise should recognise also that

some praise is duel

Retaliation ° such as that proposed by-' the Canterbury General Labourers' Union will not promote a settlement of the industrial arbitration problem. Nor will it help the unionists of New Zealand. The prosperity of New Zealand is largely governed by the demand for Dominion produce in overseas markets; and efforts to check that demand must rebound upon the workers outside primary industry as well as upon those more directly affected. There is, however, another and even stronger reason why such retaliation should not be discussed. Parliament shelved the Arbitration Bill and declared a truce, so that all parties affected might confer. The success of the conference will depend upon the degree of reasonableness manifested by all concerned. If they go to the meeting ready to carry on the fight they will fail to agree; but if they seek to understand each other's point of view there is every prospect of a settlement. " There can be no worse preparation for amicable discussion than for the parties to walk around with clubs and the cheerful invitation: "Come and be friends or I'll damage your head."

There is something attractive in the idea—suggested by a question in the House of Commons —that each unit of the Empire should specialise in certain industries. To some extent, the proposal, is the practice. For instance, wool-growing and leather-producing Dominions easily found an economic reason for trying to make clothes and boots. The local production of one of the raw materials, even the principal one, is, however, not the last word on the question as to whether an industrial undertaking rests on an economic basis. It is believable that a first-class industrial economist might, after a careful analysis, propound a reasonable scheme for division of industrial effort so as to avoid overlapping among the various units of the Empire, and might bf> able to co-ordinate Dominion tariffs accordingly. But when one turns to the possibility of inducing the industrialists and the politicians of a series of selfgoverning States to adapt themselves to an Empire-wide pattern, a host of obvious difficulties arises. The British Prime Minister told his questioner that the first step to such an allocation or agreement must occur "within the industries .themselves." No doubt he foresees that failure to reach' an understanding in the industrial sphere would obviate the necessity of any confession of incompatibility ou the political side. The fact is that neither industrialists nor politicians are likely to find any common ground, either in the workshop or at the customhouse, that would enable manufactures to be allocated on a scientific Imperial basis. Besides, even a scientific scheme is not infallible. Nowhere does personal genius win more surprising victories than in the world of industry.

Nothing fairer could be asked for than the report of the Commonwealth Government's Geological Adviser on the limited oil-flow from the Roma bore. Small flows of oil are like the miners' "colours of gold." Gold is very widely distributed, but only rarely is it found in commercial quantities; and the same is true of oil, ana of many other natural products whose value is dependent on the cost of winning them. Sometimes the finding of "colours of gold," and auriferous indications leads to nothing,

even though yeaTS be spent in search for the parent reef; and the same thing may happen to the discoverer of the migratory oil of which the Geological Adviser speaks. In New Zealand a good deal of money has been spent and is being spent in search of a commercial oil pool. Perhaps the most-satisfac-tory feature of the local situation is the absence for several yeaTs of anything approaching an attempt to excite the market, so far as regards the working operations of legitimate oil undertakings. The companies are spending their money and making no false claims. It is to be hoped that they will succeed. They deserve to. And the country needs a petroleum industry.

In New Zealand by the Pure Food and Drugs Act and regulations made thereunder a considerable measure of control is exercised over the sale of foodstuffs which are not exactly as they are represented to be: Where the skill of the chemist has helped the manufacturer to produce flavours or colours, that fact must be stated. The product mast be branded as "artificial" and the regulations even state the size of type to be used upon the label. Sometimes this has been considered somewhat grandmotherly legislation; but it is necessary for the protection of the^consumer and the honest manufacturer. A similar degree of control is evidently desired by the City Analyst of Salford, who recently emphasised the necessity for authoritative definitions of articles of every-day consumption such as "jam" and "lemoncheese." To illustrate hia point he gave several examples of the manufacturers' descriptions of sweets. One such was described as "full-cream milk, farm butter, and pure cane sugar"; but the analyst found that the fats were 60 per cent, coconut oil. Another toffee was alleged to derive its wonderful "melt-in-the-mouth" flavour from the use of "only those ingredients which should go to the making of the best toffee —eggs, butter, cream, and sugar." It proved to contain, 1.5 per cent, of butter-fat and, from the percentage of protein found, the eggs, butter, cream, and milk, if present at all, were present in extremely small quantities. In -commenting upon the report, "The Times" remarked that though the examples were isolated ones, they pointed to the necessity for legal definition, in the absence of which the Courts were nearly helpless.