CORRESPONDENCE

Southland Times, Issue 20080, 18 January 1927, Page 7

CORRESPONDENCE

Letters mast be written in ink and on one •ide of the paper. Unless a signature, not necessarily for publication, accompanies a letter •a a guarantee of good faith it will not bo considered. An asterisk attached to the signature to a published letter denotes that some portion has been deleted by the Editor, a right which is exercised in questions of public policy, libel, good taste and fair play. THE LIQUOR ISSUE. To the Editor. Sir,—l have filled my fountain pen again to reply to “Ex-Yokel,” I like him as a con trovers at iarist, he stands up and likes to be knocked down and I enjoy knocking him down. I know something of history and of the rise and fall of nations but in these discussions, rightly you would not allow either “Ex-Yokel” or the writer to debate such a vast subject. However we know that the consumption of liquor never elevated any nation but has with other vices led to their downfall and ruin. “Ex-Yokel” flare not attempt to set up a defence for the liquor trade, with its vile and coarse allurements, but he tries by a side issue to give it a wee boost. Nowadays anybody that thinks and observes knows of the frightful and debasing evils of the trade. Twenty years ago like many others electorates, realising as the magistrate of the day said from the bench, “It was simply shameful how the liquor trade was ruining and debauching the young men of the town etc.” The Times emphasised the truth of this terrible fact, so the people of Invercargill by a fully fifty per cent majority vote, abolished “The foulest fiend of all,” from their midst.—l am, etc., ECONOMIC. PRODUCTION. To the Editor. Sir, Slim Jim: Well, Jean. How do you sum up the various correspondence appearing in the Southland Times on the farmer’s troubles. Jean: “Suum Cuique” is a determined fighter, his weak spot is his “Customs Taxation” argument. You see Jim, taxation has to be got out of the people to meet cost of administration etc., the only one that can pay is the primary producer. Ninety-six per cent of our exports are primary products. The farmer can’t pass the cost of production on, so finally the farmer pays for all. In New T Zealand farming is the key industry; it is the key to nearly all the wealth. Therefore whatever taxation New Zealand carries, the farmer has to produce it. Slim Jim: Then there’s no cure for the farmer’s trouble at all. He simply has to carry on, without any hope of getting any better. Jean: Yes there is, Jim, our trouble is that we are breeding the wrong kind of cow. We are breeding a cow with a big head, and did you ever see a cow with a big head any good. Slim Jim: No, I can’t say I have. It’s generally a cow with a fine small head that has the big udder. Jean: Yes you want to keep the eating end small and the producing end big, then you have a profitable cow. It’s the cow with a big head that gives you the most trouble, and she is not profitable. Slim Jim: But I can’t see what you are getting at. Jean: Don’t be so dull Jim. Can’t you see that an agricultural country like New Zealand building large towns, is‘like a cow with a big head. Slim Jim: Oh, I see what you mean. Jean, ou want a large rural population anti small towns, produce rhe goods and export them and thereby bring money into the country’. Jean: Exactly. Slim Jim: But you have missed a point there, Jean. You see the bigger the town ixmulation the bigger the home market which is an immense benefit to the farmer. Jean: Fiddlesticks’ You might as well say that the bitreer the family a fanner has, the nearer he is to his home market. Slim Jim: But, Jean, talk sense, that’s on a small scale and it might not work out the same. Jean: Well then, take New Zealand. We are a borrowing people, how can a borrowing nation survive if it trades within its own borders? Can’t, you see that there must be interest etc to be met and if we only trade within ourselves that we are playing a losing game? No Jim, there’s no value whatever in a home market. No nation has ever become rich by trading within its own borders. It is by exports that any nation can get rich, there’s no other possible way. No man can create a market for his own product. And no country can create a market for its own products. It is impossible. Slim Jim: But certain individuals will get rich by trading within ourselves. Jean: Granted. But individual riches are insecure if the nation is poor. Slim Jim: Then you are not in favour of protecting the secondary’ industries. Jean: Certainly not. What sense is there in throttling the source of the nation’s wealth to protect an industry that can’t stand. Slim Jim: Mr J. R. Hamilton. M.P., told us at the opening of the Waitane sawmill that the Government was doing a little towards protecting secondary’ industries. And he thought they should do more, because those secondary industries employed a lot of men. Jean: “That’s as ridiculous as carrying a goat up the hill to ride him down. Fancy’ you carrying water up from the well and then pouring it out. just because it provided yon with work. These politicians always try to think the popular way, they don’t like to stir the water too deep, because the popular thought is always floating on the surface. Slim Jim: Well what is your idea about Mr Adam Hamilton, M.P.’s idea of an agricultural bank to lend money to the farmer. Jean: It makes me sick to hear these people talk about lending money to the farmer. Why, the farmer is the very one who produces it. It is the produce of the i farmer that brings all the money in to the | country, the country would go bankrupt to- ■ morrow if the farmers down tools. Why’ I then should the farmer need to borrow’ money? Why should the man who proj duces the wealth be poor and driven off his ■ farm unable to live on it. Just fancy what is supposed to be a farmer’s Government spending about £lO.OOO to send a few men abroad to try to find- a way to lend the farmer what he produces, it is wonderful when you think of it. Slim Jim: I think I see the point that you are driving at. It is the unprofitable cow, the one with the big head that’s the cause of all the trouble. What you really want is to trim down the head, and put it on the other end, the producing end and spread taxation more evenly over every’ shoulder. Jean: Yes, Jim, cut out this rot about the value of a home market, which has no value. In fact it’s the cause of the troubles, too many consuming what the farmers produce that leaves nothing for the farmer after he has produced it. Slim Jim: Well, Jean, are you prepared to face the big guns with that statement that a home market is of no value, and that no nation can progress by trading within its own borders whether it is doing so on borrowed money or not. Jean: Yes, Jim, let ’em all come. Slim Jim: I’m afraid, Jean, that you and I will be classed in Mr Editor’s dismal Jimmys and crying Janes. Jean: Qualified pessimism is of more value than unqualified optimism. Foolish optimism is like drinking beer, it’s very pleasant while it is going down, but leaves you with a bad head next morning. Thus ends the first round in the New Year, and Jean and I wish you and the various correspondents who have contributed to the all important subject “Production” in the Southland Times a glad New Year.—l am, etc, SLIM JIM. (Countries do not grow rich on agriculture aione. the development of the home market for agriculture has not brought bankruptcy to countries which have taken that course. Jean should examine their cases.—Ed. S.T.]