WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Hokitika Guardian, 11 January 1922, Page 4

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

— 4 — THE MEIAT POOL.

CONFLICTING VIEWS

SPECIAL TO GUAKDIAN

WJ&LEINGTON, 'January 9. It probably would be difficult to find in the Dominion at the present time a producer or business man concerned in the producer’s activities whose , views in regard to the merits and demerits of'the proposed meat pool are not in some measure coloured by his own personal interests. Even the farmer who does not produce meat will consider what' might happen, for good or for evil, were the principle of ’ the pool applied to ‘ butter, and" the businessman who operatec in neither meat nor butter- will take into account how some commodity he does handle would be affected by a similar scheme. This being the case it is not surprising that many diverse and conflicting opinions ■upon the Government’s proposals are being expressed. The majority of the business men, on the other hand, hold that it would be a very hazardous experiment, and, whatever the outcome, would., create an embarrassing precedent for the present or some future Government. A CONSIDERED OPINION.

Referring ■to the position to-day, a business man, recently returned from the Old Country, where he had special opportunities, as on former occasions, to ascertain what was going on in the London Markets, said he entirely sympathised with Mr Massey’s desire to lend a helping hand to the., producers. Many of them were in an extremely hard place, so hard indeed’ that if left to their own unaided resources, they inevitably would go to the wall. But the Government would have to move very warily if it were not going l to do more harm than good by its intervention. There was nothing radically wrong with the prices of meat at Home. At any rate, do what the Prime Minister might, they would continue to be settled by the operation of the law of supply and demand. But there was a great deal that might be done, both at this end, and the other, towards reducing the cost of placing New Zealand products on the Londbn market. This was the question upon which the Government- should concentrate its attention. REDUCTION OF CHARGES.

“I am glad to notice”, this authority went on to say, “that Mr Massey himself has come to recognise that it is the high cost of delivering our meat to tnc consumer that is chiefly responsible for the existing state of affairs. When the Prime Minister first mentioned the subject in the House, just before the adjournment for the Christmas holidays, he seemed, to have an idea in his head that it would he possible by a simple resolution of Parliament to alter the whole course of the meat trade! But he knows better than that now and consequently is approaching his task with a clearer conception of its magnitude and a greater chanoe of success. He hopes to have the asswftnnce of the ooinmereirtl houses in carrying out his scheme ns he did in the case of the commandeer and at the same time to leave the producers in complete control. It is difficult to see how this is to he accomplished without making the taxpayers responsible for very considerable expenditure, but tho financial aspects of the pool cannot he intelligently discussed without further information than we have at presetit.”

SOME FALLACIES. Alluding to the preliminary discussions of the scheme, which he thought had been totally inadequate, this openminded 1 critic strongly deprecated the tendency he had noticed •in several quarters to disparage the business man’s share in the meat trade. Certain members of Parliament and even Ministers of the Crown other than Mr Mnssey, had talked as if the business man was an excrescence upon the trade, and that his purpose was not to dovelor’ a great national indnstiv for '' benefit of every one concerned, hut to exploit'the unhappy producer to the limit of his endurance. The history of the trade showed how utterly unjustified all this was, and though such talk might he expected from the extreme '.section ,of the socialists who looked for the millennium in the nationalisation of all the country’s industries it was exceedingly unbecoming from the lips of people who know from personal experience that fihe business man had borne a full share of the burdens of the trade in tho past and was hearing it now. This was a time for frank co-operation in reducing costs by every legitimate means, not for the creation of suspicion and distrust among the parties mutually interested in tho achievement of that goal.