The Chronicle. PUBLIC DAILY MONDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1911. POLITICS AND SUGAR.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 6 November 1911, Page 2

The Chronicle. PUBLIC DAILY MONDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1911. POLITICS AND SUGAR.

] Fkom Fremantle to Milford Sound ] ! and the Gull" of Carpentaria to I ; Stewart Island, housewives are heI I ing upset (economically at loa.st) by k i tho high price of sugar. "Wlhy the I i Horowhenma Clinonic.lc should l)e I j concerning itself with the price of sugar i.s a query that is .sure, to be put and we have no answer ready! But, at least, we will give relief, in doing so, to those acidulated critics who of Late have complained about our incursions into the Jiekl of politics, and who seem to count it sacrilege on our part when we cast metaphorical stones at their particular political josses. Vet we .shall continue to pursue our course, in this present stream of political events just as wo deem proper, and the .semi-public protests and the underground wire-pullings of a few disgruntled >and hia.sed political fuglemen who havo endeavoured to force us outof our straingt line will affect us not one jot. In these I days the Chronicle has sufficient daily ballast (in the form of actual news of the world and district) to make itself mi article of need to the citizens of the town and county. Those of them who see eye to eye with us will he pleased to find we are so -open-minded; those who turn at political right angles from us will lie content to differ and remain friends who are sorry for us and our political bias, hut content to : read our paper for the. district and ; other news it contains. In the intervals between general elections we are less-frequent in our ventures upon broad questions of politics than we are in the present time of stress, for we recognise that to this part of Now Zealand local events and needs ordinarily are of .greater importance than the broader interests of the country arc. But, today, Harowlienua. County's interests are as deeply and as broadly concerned in the issues of the General Elections as any and every other part of the dominion is. We sec at present am insidious effort being made to undermine the Liberal entrenchments which so kng have withstood assault in this electorate, and wo would bo wanting in our duty did we not try to show to the small settlers and the working men who form so large a part of this can. stituency that in looking for betterment of political conditions from the party now known by tine euphuistic title of The Reform Party they are "seeking figs on thistles. ,. The principles which the Reform Party really stand for are of a, quality which does not commend itself to tltose who desire to see the country continue progressive and prosperous. It is true that an effort has been made to strengthen the old platform with some up-to-date planks, but at beat the construction is a . α-icketty jumble, and its basic timbers are as decayed as tlie opinions of -tihe par!ty are antiquated. In spite of the desperate efforts that are being made—by invective and innuendo aaid ca,lumn-y-to -undennineTie present Adminsitration, nothing can be more certain than the surety of ®- renewal of confidence which #M

mrty will receive at the polls. And re believe t-lint tlio sound sense of >his county will ensure a largo majirity of the electors of these parts Wniiuns true to the Ministry and -ho member in whom tboy havo ilaced and renewed their eonfidenco [or many years, ami: at several successive elections. Fi'om our own personal experiences of tin; Seddou and Ward Governments, and a fairly close personal cognisance of their departmental and originative abilities, we can say that under the Ward regime there is more of individual liberty for Civil Servants, and progressive legislation, and helpful administration of important departments, than there was in the later years of the Scddon Administration. Strong man and true friend though Mr Seddon was, there wore sides of his departmental administration and methods which wore not altogether admirable, and to depart from which was one of the earliest and most nqtable acts of the reconstructed Cabinet. Our reason for referring to this is to request those few settlers wlno are wavering to-day in their allegiance to the Liberal Party to ask themselves what good reasons have been adduced to justify a. change. If the party was good enough .six years ago, or three years ago, it must be good enough to-day, seeing that it is stronger and bettor. iSom-o unsubstantiated charges against it ■have been made and are being persisted in by the Leader of the Opposition and his echoes; but, after all, they are "mere unsubstantial visions whicih fading leave not a wrack behind." Those who will lie permanently misled by the clamour and misrepresentation of Opposition candidates and elaqnors will be but an infinitesimal portion of the whole. And now to sugar! Once upon a time sugar was regarded as half in the light of a luxury, ond parents economically inclined were wont to give little Jim and his sister a penny each per week if they drank their tea without sugar. Tncidentally these parents seemed to .save a few pence per week by the arrangement, but in the light of our present knowledge of food rallies contained in sugar products it is open to doubt whether the seeming saving did not can.se an actual loss. In any case, the, fact, remains that sugar has become Jin article of necessity in our regimen of to-day, and the successive rises of a farthing per pound which have increased Wio cost during the. last six months or so by nearly one-third means a harassing source of extra expenditure lo many heads of large laniilies. The volume of complaint in Australia has been so great that the Government lias appointed a Royal Commission to inquire imo the causes of the increase, and no doubt (he result <if (heir investigations will cast helpful light upon tlu> actual r-a.sc. i T p to the present there has boon a consensus of opinion that "the sugar monopoly" has boon bleeding the public solely ior extra pr.'ilit : but we have noticed in ft recent speech delivered by the chairman of the Colonial Sugar Tiefining Company that there is at least a colourable case presented by the company by way of justification 'of the recent rises. At present, however, the public as a whole is in no temper to perpend nicotics of figure tables and calculations. They know merely that sugar which used to be 2d per pound is now .'id ; ,and all the references to floods and dry weather an,] labour troubles which ] may have led up to the need for j increase are to them .so ninny fig- |

j Possibly. thorgb, the explanations j.'ii'o reasonably good. }\\\i v/c daresay that if one could set to the botiom of the matter it would Im discovered Hint because- the price of production liiut iiii-reused by (say) 'J.I- per cent a rise of 5 per con I was made lin the wholesale price. However, I we will let the chairman of dirocI tors toll his own story, which is voj ported ii.s fellows in a cablegram i which reached us from Sydney the j other <l:i.v:~Afc the half-yearly j meeting of the Colonial Sugar Re- | filling Company the report showed j that the profits in Australia were r-C1V).829, and in Fiji and New Zealand Cn.7,000, to whiYh ,i, ns to i ) 0 ■added the balance of C77,f>]3. making £'288.-1-13 available for (he half|.viai-. A dividend of ten per rentI inn for the year was declared, abI sorbing CloO.ooo. and a lion.ns of }2s per share, absorbing -CI ."5.000. leaving .£123.-1-13 to carry forward, ft was stated that the heavy rains and floods in Queensland and Kiji, followed by exceedingly drv weaj ther, had. done much damage fo the ! growing erojis. Tire partial Failure iof the ; best crop in. Europe caused jan advance in prices, but there was I no reason to suppose that a permanent advance had been or would be established. The Ohiiirman, in moving the adoption of the report referred to the appointment of the Sugar C>n-mmission. Ho said the company in. due course will state its views on the situation, and in order to silence those .attacked it will set forth more fully than it lias yet done, the position. That it should ho compelled to do so was a grave wrong, but parliaments now ■had lost sight altogether of the liberties of the community. The action of the Commissioner in refusing to allow the Company to bo represented by counsel could not he defended, either by precedent or justice. Iho Queensland strike caused a small loss in connection with the •mills, but they were able. t» keep running, so that the production wliile the strike lasted was » 1 little below normal. Tn the settlejment effected the Company had. no part, but nothing could he gained by discussing .details now. XotwiHistanding the rise in prices the Company in Juno sold manufacturers supplies for the year at a rate which gives tliciii Hie sugar, duty paid, below what competitors in Britain have to pay in bond.