The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1918. A PARADOXICAL FOOD SITUATION.

Taihape Daily Times, 1 October 1918, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1918. A PARADOXICAL FOOD SITUATION.

(With which is Incorporated The Fhi hape Pont n.nd Walrnuil'i'- N'iwi-hI

Another organisation in which the members are chiefly South Canterbury farmers has held its annual meeting and furnished additional food for thought on the subject of profiteering. A few days ago we pointed out that

a meeting of wheat-growers in the same locality were bringing all the pressure in their power to compel the ; Government to guarantee them a ; minimum of six shillings and' - fourponce a bushel for their wheat and a | free market to get as much more as | they could exact. Anyway, the law j was to be that the Government guaranteed the six and fourpence; but in : the same breath these farmers "wanted • the maximum price of labour fixed; j there must be no free market for laI bour, it must be bound down to take j what these liberal-minded gentlemen j liked to pay them. It is extraordinar- | ily interesting to go back over the few ! short years of the history of labour in New Zealand; in doing so the mental journey doesn't travel back far before it encounters the swagger, or sundowner, as he Avas called in Australia. He, with his swag on his back, some- ■ times with a tin billy in his hand, was a very familiar figure, and only those | with very short or very convenient ! memories will have" forgotten him. i Those were the days of free labour; I when farmers, even some who have i since been decorated by their King, fought with all the influence they could exercise to prevent the labourer having a fixed minimum wage. The employer had the upper hand in those days and he ~"wanted no compulsion about what he should pay the worker; how he should feed him, or what sort of accommodation he should have for i living and sleeping in. Now, the , swagger has disappeared; labour has been gradually coming into its place in the sun. still, there is the same old greed and absence of conscience today as there was then, only conditions are somewhat reversed. The South Canterbury wheat-growers cannot get enough for their wheat in a free market; they must have a Government guarantee of no less than six shillings and fourpence a bushel, with the right to get as much more as they can. The audacity of their demands is shown in the fact that there must be no fixed minimum for labour that synchronises with the increased cost of livtng. As price-fixers the Government has been

I a dismal failure, as exemplified by the discontent in every section' of employers and employees. Men with four children are being paid fifty-five 1 shillings a week by at least one local body and such men are publicly called industrial rebels because they demand an increase. These are days of profiteering; all conscience is cast to the winds; shamelessly, employers advocate what is obviously unfair and inhuman. It is strange to see among farmers of to-day swaggers of the past; but not only can the erstwhile sundowner be seen on the land, in occupation, he is also shining in manufacturing as a large employer of labour; he is arguing law in our courts, and we know of, at least, one newspaper proprietor In a few instances, we regret to notice, these very men are opposed to allowing the worker a living wage to-day; men will not learn that it is advantageous to the whole community that none should starve. Britain has had a terrifying lesson under this head in the many thousands who are unfit for military service through want of food in maintaining a sound constitution. Employers cannot be trusted, it seems, wheatgrowers must have a guaranteed minimum of six shillings and fourpence, and were they content with that little notice would be taken, but they must have the right to get as much more as their elastic conscie rices will stretch to, and the Government must also see to it that th?y have plenty of labour at a cheap rate. At the meeting of South Canterbury farmers the chairman said ths Government's treatment of last year's- wheat was satisfactory; if he is sincere, why in the name of everything reasonable was there the hubbub about a fixed minimum price at a higher rate? He complains about the Government menacing the wheat-growers' free market by importing wheat: but surely be would not advocate a condition of starvation so that a free market for wheat might not be menaced. The people may be menaced with starvation, but free markets for wheat, so that as much more as possible may be charged over the "six and four" minimum, must not be menaced. Luckily for the masses, the Government has not viewed the wheat question as some South Canterbury farmers see it. With all the restrictions on imported wheat farmers urge they Cannot grow wheat in New Zealand to compete with it. This only demonstrates that- there is a canker somewhere in our producing industries,' and' no doubt future Governments will discover its true whereabouts and'some dissatisfied people of to-day will be chagrined to find how drastically the surgeon's knife is put into execution. The old saying, "Live and let live" has gone out of fashion; to-day it is "make millions, let who will starve." We are opposed to the | new axiom because we are convinced | that no community can prosper that is j honey-combed with trusts, corners, and a general system of profiteering; we say, backed.by all modern econom--1 ists, that it is distinctly 'bad for every section of people, not' even omitting the deluded apostles of greed themselves. One Canterbury farmer said it had been proved to him that the demands of labour were as much responsible for the increased cost of living as any other "cause, and, he added, if threshing-mill employees' demands were granted it would add fifty per cent to the cost of bread. While such intemperate nonsense is talked how is it possible to arrive at a settlement on any rational basis? This farmer said, to agree to the demands of threshing-mill employees would put the wheat-growing industry right out of business. It is beyond question, it seems that we are in the whirl of an industrial paradox; farmers, both employers and employees, canont grow wheat at a price to live upon. It is urged by the men that to live they must have increased remuneration, the farmers reply, to pay the increase would put wheat-growing out of business. t Under such circumstances there is one of two things to do; farmers must be allowed to go out of business and wheat must be imported to feed the community, or Government must resume occupation of wheat lands and establish State wheat farms. Trusts and profiteering are bringing into the forefront a terrible menace to their own interests; in desperation all sections and classes of labour are fast going over to anarchical socialism, of which there is strong evidence in the multiplicity of resolutions passed 'all over the country in connection with the Wellington Central by-election. Profiteering is making its devotees a laughing-stock by saying that the demands of one very small section of labour are increasing the price of bread by fifty per cent. The intention*of such a statement is too obvious, and it discredits the whole wheat-growing industry. The outstanding position is that farmers canno* grow wheat at the minmium price fixed and pay the wages threshing-mili employees demand .and threshing-mill employees cannot live on less than what they ask for their labour. The intelligence of the community is insulted with such talk because It is obviously opposed to fact. What will the Government j decide to do? J