The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 1919. NO SHIPPING: MEAT ROTTING.

Taihape Daily Times, 9 August 1919, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 1919. NO SHIPPING: MEAT ROTTING.

With which its incgrporated “The Taihape Post and Waimarino News.”-

Deliverance from war has left Britain _in 2. -most 'ullSa.tisf<).cY«orry situation, both as regards markets and finance, to say nothing of industrial ~s.trii"-e. The latter, of: course, is self-made, and is avoidable, but so‘ long as trusts and profiteering continue, it is not likely the, masses of the people will settle dou7n to any degree of contentment. We think, after noting .the .fin.anc.ial situation. the. shipping d.istrib.ut.i.on, the threat at unprecedented cominereiai competition, Sir Joseph Ward has"'a dash of optimisni in his nature whcn_ he affirms his conviction that Britain will‘ retaizn and -niaintain financial _s_upremacy of the "World. Never did the ifixla‘nc‘ial' world"-‘look" so‘ black for 'Britai'n,'“bu.t itliere 'ls“-‘mrdoubt that ‘Britain’siaconrpétitor vtiillifind an the iiivaltions of Europe—in fact, all peoples ‘not“i"e'sident "on" the ‘American Contin-ent—"-arrayetl against him‘.7 Uilcle'Saiil’ ha_s»tackled 13, big ‘job, undoubtedly,‘ "still. ;there are many ‘reason-s -for hop-' ing that finance,-like industry and commerce, will “rapidly return to some'scn'i‘blancfe of :a ipre-war character. ‘Sir’Joscph, by‘ his romvarlts eon finance and trade, secs clearly the .gr_eat-danger to New Zealand from any movement of l the iinancial hub of the universe from London. Every one of’ us must view ‘with -alarm present conditions. and‘ the possibility of something worse to follow. The whole energies of the Bri-M Empire have been thrown into winning the war, neither money"or manhood has been spared; not so with Amer'ic‘a. For three years Uncle Sam lleft the country of his origin to continuc the death struggle While he perisisted in 2. trade-building and shipI building unprecedented in his history, | or in the annals of any other peoples. rwhile industrialists of America were ‘scooping in millions; while American shipping combines and meat trusts were i piling up profits and loot as"'never be‘fore, all were manoeuvring to rig the ' world’s markets when‘ the great battle iyceased. New Zealand farmers were gett'il-lg .fo:lr.rpence ‘halfpenny for their i prime mutton, the American trusts were i getting fourtecnpencc for their inferior Istufl’. It is now too Obvi\_ous that Americans were out on an unnatural project in an indecent role. If not, vcliy was New Zealand meat blocked while they -scooped three times the i price, and why was New Zealand meat iallowed to congest storage in Britain ‘and in this country while trust-meat I was flooding the British niarketil But {all this legalised indecency has not ' satisfied the American Vplture, for now that war is ',over ‘,the rate ‘of ex,ichangc has been raised against the pound sterling, on which almost the iwhole world» bases its business trans‘gactions upon. The foregoing is men[tioned to emphasise the terrible pas. isibilities that confront this Country’s I chief industry. New Zealand’s populag tion and progress is dependent upon exiport of primary products, and reason. i ing from what took place at a meeting of the Executive of the lVellington iProvincial Farmers’ Union this week ' farmers are now fully axvare of the ‘pardons situation they, and their industry occupy. As persistently as we combatcd the views urged by Mr iLysnal', we support and endorse those 1 of Mr Polson, but the organisation of farmers is too faulty for any uniform iactfon being taken oil a magnitude ‘that. could ‘wrest farmers fitem the _i trust’s grip, and nothing of consequence can be done in the (lil*ect‘fon

‘ 3 ('llL'L‘,llVC lntcrcnange OI T,llUU{.',llE 13 rundered possible by a far closer organis_u aficn than that which now exists. The meetings discussions were pervaded by a q_llol'ulollsllcss bcgnt of llclplessncs,-, nnd n‘azll=ln. No relief seemed possibln bu.‘ by tziking the bold Step in\osf:lb?i.'~'h--1 ing oitllol'-:§flfal'lllol's’ shipping colnp:lny, or 5: -.97‘.'zrt.r,= srlrimringg lino. VVO take us Cl'CClit for having seen the difiiculfy ,ICOmin€_f up long ago. 1101' for ]la'~."i.'l:_»‘ 117-ggcrl .Qta.l‘r3 shipping; as HlO only 0555:1720 free?’-. disaStr..=l'. boczzuse it 5c.:1:~.-id s'o

obvious. As the war "p’r‘o'}{:;iled ‘the! trend" of Shipping was goin.{ against! our Empire. America is not only in the K strong I>oSiii’on of being able to take from the pockets of the Allies doublyl what has been spent on the war, but‘ she has grabbed -a very‘ important por- 1 tion of German merchant shipping, and i now we profess alarm at the situation] New Zeala.nd’s meat; and its’ future in-i dustry, are involved in. There can be « no escape but ‘through State-owned | ships. The Combine will go on bribing with a ship now and then to i{33.) upi 110139; While the trust’s net cotnnl.c*,cly envelops the industry, and the wa-ole! of the meat must go into the trust maw. It is no use recriminatiug‘ at this stage, action, prompt actiion, united action is urgently essential. \Vh2lt. advantage is -a free market without shipping? American tonnage‘ is not in itself controlling, -but by present shipping methods it does exercise 3. very dangerous control ‘so far .as New Jew. land meat is involved_ The price of New Zealand meat in Britain is out--i rageously out of all proportion to its cost in New Zealand; in this conuec-I tion there is another dishonest nlarketing device to take. into» consideration. It is well known that most large manufacturers dictate the price their goods shall be sold at by retailers; we have nottaken into our reckonings the extreme pro'bability that American trust moat could only be acquired by the Imperial Government pledging itself '6O some such arrangement, and that such arrangement is to continue so long as there is any trust‘ meat to be delivered under the arrangement. This idea has added force in the fact that although meat in store in Britain is going rotten, prices are not reduced in order’ to elfcct a quicker clearance. There is no doubt possible about -the demand for all the meat New Zealand can produce at the price" inow paid‘ farmers for it, but, so ilong as Yankee trusts are strong ;enough‘, cunning and dishonest enough !to scrap the laws of supply and de-‘ imand as eifectively as if they neveri had natural existence, it is beyond all imagining to secure «relief and freedom from trust action by any other means than the wherevvithal to take‘ our commodities "right into the markets where we want to sell them. Since War commenced British -i-tonnage has gone "dowfi " over ten" per cent, while that »-of’ the crafty’Y<ank hasiincrcased by nearly trventy"per cent; Surely thisought to ‘be convincing indication of -where the sidcrct market control nlies. This is not a "time for blamingnor re.criminating, but it is a time for desperate action, and no section of the community should be left unorganised in securing the required relief -at the earliest possible moment. Itwill be realised that the consent "of coirstitubncies must be obtained, and to secure that consent surely it is worth While to organise with a view to placing facts as they {are before the :people. Men are wantecl to handle the ~ques’tion posses- ‘ sing a much wider outlook than is.possible in any one association, but those ' selected by the meeting on Thursday to ‘interview the Government -on the'sub_jcct have shown by their discussion of tho.«d'.i'fiiculty that they are fully alive ito the incalculable danger menacing I their in'3llS'tl'y.