Citizens Say—

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1049, 13 August 1930, Page 10

Citizens Say —

(To the Editor.)

OPEN MARKETS Sir.— No doubt “Pardess,” in commenting on the very able letter of Mrs. Ruby Watson, had some idea of being humorous, but merely succeeded in bfeing silly. “Pardess’' writes about “we men.” T would say that the penname, “Pardess.” denotes a female of some sort. However, if “Pardess” had ever had any dealings from a producer’s end of the business, the joke , would no doubt be on the other side of the lace. As an instance: When a crate of strawberries, or other fruit, is sent to the markets, the producer has to pay freight, cartage, receiving, delivery and commission and. if sent by boat, wharfage as well. This after having already paid for labour, fertiliser and crate. Jlow would any shopkeeper like to sell his wares this way? The producer is very often out of pocket and the consumer gets stale fruit at high prices in this land of plenty. On all produce the producer pays freight, and if he requires anything in the way of fertilisers, stores, etc., Jie pays freight again. He has to pay whatever he is asked and must be content to take what the merchants care to call the market price. It is about time tha£ the public woke up to the fact that food cannot be continuously produced at a loss. J. ATTWOOD. Paremoremo. FEWER MEMBERS; HIGHER PAY Sir, — 1 am entirely in agreement with M>. A. .T. Hutchinson in his views on the need for a “No-Party” Government. “Annoyed” asks how this can be done. Well, first of all. I expect Mr. Hutchinson thought the same as I, that if the suggestion were published to start a controversy, others perhaps better able to suggest ways and means would take the problem up. It is quite apparent that members of our governing body will not vote, themselves out of a job. It is the general public which will have to make a move in this direction. My idea is, instead of having a member for every little town or suburb, we reduce the number to an absolute minimum—sa</. one for Auckland and one for Waikato, and so on. The voting could be the same as now, but instead of party considerations entering into the business the voting could be on the ability of the individual candidate. It would bo just as if a private business were employing a manager. Each province would select whom it considered to bo the best man out of candidates putting up in their district. I would suggest offering, say, £5,000 a year instead of, at present, £4OO. We would get men of ability to stand, as it would be worth their while doing so, whereas j

at present it is not. Business men, even in a small way, are not tempted as they can make more in their own business. At present we have quantity instead of quality. We want to reverse the position and to do so we must pay for brains. My suggestions would not cost country much more, if any more, than it does at present, and it would mean a considerable saying as everything would be put on business lines, and! thereby save the continual waste ot money now taking place just for party reasons and vote-catching. I would like “Annoyed” to explain what he is annoyed at. Surely he must see that past and present methods are detrimental to the country generally, and members are continually experimenting at the expense of the public. COMMON SENSE. FUTURE OF KAURI GUM Sir,— In reply to the question: ' Can our kauri gum fields become a valuable asset to New Zealand? After nearly fifty years of gum-digging experience, I firmly believe that they can and will, that only the shallow surface fields have yet been marked, and that deep beneath them are other fields at present beyond the diggers’ reach. The greater part of North Auckland has apparently, through past ages, been covered by successive kauri forests that have flourished and decayed and now await discovery by machine excavation instead of by spade and spear. Our great kauri gum industry is, I believe, destined to flourish in the future to a far greater degree than in the past. Played-out it may be, for played-out old diggers like me. but not for the men of tomorrow with new ideas and methods, and who will need the stimulus of a rising gum market to spur them on to new discoveries. And the market will surely rise as new uses are found for our kauri gum, which is only excelled in price by the gum of Zanzibar. And why shouldn't wo make varnish, linoleums and other products here? If we would have to imDort other raw materials for the purpose, the same argument applies to those who purchase our kauri gum. although it is said that it can be done without. This seems to indicate that we should learn all we can of the use#* of kauri gum. We can then decide which pays us best- to export it or to use it in manufactures here. The evolution of our gum industry is very interesting to studv. First came the Maoris collecting the erum strewn on the surface, then spearing for patches under the surface, from which they took only the large nuggets down to three or four pounds in weight, leaving the rest to the European diggers who dug out what the Maoris had left. And what a rough, careless, free and

rtuVsy. happy-go-lucky life was lived by those early rovers of forest and

fern, who wandered at will from ‘Auckland to Cape Maria van Diemen. Ana such a human mixture — democrats and prison rats, all han-feliows-well-met with rovers’ welcome. That devil-may-care life lasted man. years until the shallow d gging. from a few inches to feet, ceased to pau Then, as foreigners arrived in larg* numbers from Europe, thev finmcea the shallow ground and. digging deeper, found large deposits at depths of iv» 14 and 16 feet, the existence of wiuco was never thought of by early digs*/ 5 * And it is certain that deeper and nener deposits will be found in future, undoubtedly large areas of rich S 1 fields are lying buried alone w.e ninety-mile beach between Ahipa- 1 * and Cape Maria van Diemen. where * have known of hundredweights ot gum being picked up after the sand had in some places been levelled Oj* hurricanes, leaving the surface & r ° u * 1 exposed with remains of both kau * tree stumps and gum showingthese gumfields must wait until to sand can b«" Lifted (if lhat conics po- sible, which is unlikely « the sand is for ever increasing). ca fU lessness and ignorance of this v3lu U > ‘ industry have caused enormous cco“ uomic loss to New Zealand. many million pounds worth of tim and gum has been destroyed by less, reckless firing is beyond estJ ™f. as are the vast quantities of gum. Chips and gum scrapings w discarded by early diggers, who ne - dreamed that a profitable msr* would ever be found for what tn _- was regarded as rubbish, wb j c “* _» v such, was burnt. If we had known then! On every field heard a wail from the old hands: gum’s played-out!” until the sters exploded their claim by digging. It’s the same cry n o "'- __ will continue to be until the de v down fields are found and openeq * This will surely happen ' vh *n uses are found for the gum, and pr will again rise. Deeper ,•««- fields than any known will *>e ucovered, and the richest of a* l probably be found within a *f w r of Auckland. This is the futurß . I picture for our long-r.eglected - . kauri gum industry, which began *£s five tons taken as ballast to Lc* where it was thrown into the Tnthere being no use for it. WILLIAM PERRY - Great Barrier Island.