The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1919. THE NO—SHIPPING SIN.

Taihape Daily Times, 17 September 1919, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1919. THE NO—SHIPPING SIN.

With which 115 incorporated “The Taihape Post and Waimarino News.” A

The meat export problem is one of V burning interest to the whole of Ausltralasia, not to farmers and meat ex- - porters .alone,.but to every individual man and woman in the community. Meat is what this country exchanges very largely for the money that‘ is necessary to its people, and at this time it is important that every individual should understand that the vol- ! ume -of meat exported and the price obtained for it is as much a matter of life and death interest to them as it is to the men who grow the meat. For any rectification of wrongs in connecI tion with the transit of meat fr-9111 our ‘farms to the consumers in Europe, and ’ in the remuneration that is returned ', for it, every man and woinan must I‘ leiiii their aid in urging their Govern l ment on to secure a plentiful supply ‘ of shipping to get the meat‘-to Europe, I and to see that the returns are equivI alent with: what any other country is receiving. It must _be realised by all, “Workers, shirkers and Viaffluent, that ;:there is no money available for circu(lation but that wliich is received for gwhat farmers produce; there is no for-, feign loan money to help the people {over hard times as heretofore; loans ‘now have to .be raisedufrom amongst Ithis Dominion’s citizens, out of money ithat has come to them by virtue of ,lt‘a"rm products exported;' in other lwvords, our meat and wool is our ‘money. But what an insance use are iwe making of this money in the mariketing exchange, in the Eumpean jclearing-house. New Zealand £.=.rmcr.s ‘are receiving, say, fivepence while I meat of poorer quality is exchanging ‘for from fourteenpence to six or eight Jshillings. Is it not the inlp:')l'atiVo plcluty of every citizen and citizeuess in this Dominion to ascertain why their meat dollar is only cxchatujocl for five=pcnce while the Amer'lc.an Trust meat ]dollar is exchanging for as many shilllings in some cases There a par{ity value for meat in Europe which .meat trusts are receiving, but which !New Zcalanders are not’rccciving.. arid why is it? Here, on this little island {in the vast South Pacific Ocean we ‘are primarily concerned with mowing {meat and wool to earn the money for Emaking our roads, building bridges, iconstrncting our railways to get our lproduce to our seaboard; but we have ‘foolishly omitted to make provis?on -tor lships, and our meat is deteriorating" in (our store while we ridiculously wait. {for someone to come along with a stray ‘ship that can noly make a iiegligil:-lo ‘impression on our cougcsteld accumulations. The most essential thingin [gjetting our products to market we have [stupidly omitted to provide. and, as a ii-esult we have had to accept one-third the Value of our moat fl'Om_the British Government, who is taking the Ichances of being able to get ships to I fetch it away. While the very‘ best ’ markets should be available during the costly process of repatriation and reyconstruction they are closed to Us for iwant of shipping. It seems that we I‘ shall. be compelled into another arrange lment with the Imperial Government to I take our meat, otherwise the meat may érot on our hands and bcome our loss. (1111 any case this country is going to {be hit very hard by lower prices, Ichicfly because it had not the ships to icnable it to participate in the tidal lwave prices that are at this moment jcontinuing to flow. Like maniacs we ?shout for more production and disregard the means of getting to market that which we already pro(luce_ This country could double its primary products, but that would necessitate ten times more ships than it is possible to get . The ships that used to ;~:team from New Zealand to Europe with our produce have been sold to the Meat Trust, and they are now steaming from America to Europe while our meat develops “black spot” and becomes valueless as food. What, a prospect for the future Administrators have opened up for farmers and people! Reasonably mi'ght Dr Thacker M.P. acclaim that ten sound businessmen would do better for the country than the two Houses of Parliament have done. Circumstances have thrown this country back upon its own re. sources; upon using up its own wealtn. while it is debarred from participating

in the world's priqe,-parity for its pro. ducts. Bolsheviks have no further cause to howl for conscription of ’wealth,for compulsion to subscribe to the countryfs monetary needs is en.forced by statute laws, and no Bolshevik will fail to see that as the smaller capitalists or lenders have to fall out {Of ‘the 311113’ of subscribers to loans, the full force Of concrrption will fall. upon the largest capitalists and finan cial institutions. But conditions would have been incaleulably worse if dependence had had to be placed on extraneous monetary sources, for we should then have had to pay the very highest Price for money, while receiving an al'bitrarily fixed minimum for 0111‘ Produce, While the world demand is keeping up the prices of wool and dairy produce, and before private savings are all used up in subscribing to loans is it not desirable to make arrangements for shipping that will double our meat income, and enable. our meat to be carried to the best marlkets for all time? \Vhy are we with Isuch demency disregarding the seriousness of the shipping problem? Sir James Wilson, Dominion President of lthe Farmers’ Union, told the Conferlence of Farmers, yesterday, that shipping was the most serious problem farmers have to contend with; but Why not suggest, or do something to‘ solve that problem? Have farmers’ caught the disease of drift from tfie Government, which has reduced it tn a wait-and-see policy, Will ships to take our products to market grow in New Zealand, or are we going to wait ' until the trust has no other use for its ships? Common sense and experience are signboards pointing out the only road to a participation in the world’s markets while» such I‘enlunera--tion as repatriation, pensions and I‘e~{ Eoiistrliction make it imperative our] products should have. Trusts have, side—tracked our meat; our stores are full; there is the meanest prospect of a clearance that will permit a full working season for our freezing works, and our stored capital is being conscripted for the use of the State. Our meat cheque -could be "doubled if we had control of ships, but neither Gov-& ernment, farmers or people raise

pl-actic.al’fin‘ger towards securing them.The “Mom Production” slogan "has become ‘silly to" iterate, becauée “Sh-ipk ping and*still ‘more “shipping” is the fifsi‘ imperative nééd. ' A