The Times WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1942. To Continue the Argument

Manawatu Times, Volume 67, Issue 209, 2 September 1942, Page 4

The Times WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1942. To Continue the Argument

The Marketing Department has advised the Wool Brokers’ Association that payments on account of this season are to be at valuations less 10 per cent. This ruling has already applied to the Wellington crutchings sale of August 12 for which prompt day was on the 27th. The instruction was apparently hurriedly inspired quite at the last moment, for brokers had already made out clients’ accounts due to be posted the following day, the 28th. To enable these to be re-adjusted, prompt day had to be deferred to September 3. Although no official explanation was furnished to account for the increase in retention money from the usual 5 per cent, to 10 per cent., a guess can be well hazarded as to the reason. These crutchings were valued on the new season’s basis; i.e., at 15 per cent on last season’s value, for all new season’s wool. Had payment been made in full then a precedent would have been created for the whole clip ahead. Seemingly, someone in the Marketing Department suddenly awoke to this fact at the eleventh hour, hence the belated verboten. Is it not a fair surmise that the money represented by an extra 5 per cent, of the wool return is being held back so that “the argument may be continued”* It should be recollected that since the fierce protestations of farmers last June the Minister of Marketing has shrewdly “let sleeping dogs lie.” Thus the subject had the appearance of being dropped. What now will be the farmers’ reaction to this “renewal of the offensive”?

Potatoes a Valuable food

The potato is normally so cheap and so readily obtainable, and has been until now on every table, that its high value as a food has been given scant recognition—a quite typical and normal reaction to that which is cheap and plentiful. But now that potatoes are conspicuous by their absence their value is being discovered. The difficulty of satisfactorily replacing their cheap bulk has already been appreciated by the housewife. Here was a hunger-satisfying food, usually obtainable at Id to lid a pound, and there is no satisfying substitute. Now the dietetic pundits are proclaiming the potato’s worth. The Wellington Public Hospital dietitian has reported that the potato usually viewed as a starch foodstuff has even higher value in its vitamin and mineral contents—words of magical property in this age of diet discussions and widespread comprehension of their import. In view of these facts it can be seen how imperative it is to secure in the coming season a full crop, and that, furthermore, never again must New Zealand suffer the abounding disgrace of so failing, as in the past season, in providing this key foodstuff in ample quantity.

Make Use of Information

The account given in these columns a few days ago of the splendid reference library now available in our city must have come as news to many of our citizens. Because of this it was needful for the City Librarian to “tell the world” just what the reference library held in information —“nearly 3000 volumes . . . ” dealing with almost every conceivable subject, an ideal hunting ground for student and hobbyist, for the man who seeks “just to know,” upon some subject interesting him, without desire of any particular gain, and then, again, for anyone seeking needed practical knowledge. A vast treasure of knowledge is accumulated here to hand in our own city, readily available through careful indexing and cataloguing. Citizens should make use of this treasure. It is there and its value can be truly assessed only in proportion to the use made of it. Our educational institutions in particular could well serve the citizens of the future by training their scholars in library usage—giving them set tasks that demand research upon a wide variety of subjects.