The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1919. TWO PROBLEMS TO SOLVE.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3348, 28 November 1919, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1919. TWO PROBLEMS TO SOLVE.

With which 1'23 incorporatefi . “The Taihape Post and Waimarino News.” . V . ' an -,

, W-hile old and new ‘candidates _for Parliamentary honours_ are. trying to regale the free and independnt offboth sexes with electioneging gags and political platitudes they are losing the opportunity for Ventilating those great and most vexed questions upon which future progress and domestic happiness entirely depend. While unprecedented prices for produce are maintained farme‘rs 'are'str'iving to make their hay in ‘the sunny hours of good times, but there are strong evidences that far too much thought is being given to the present to ensure a satisfactory, and even bearable future. The old precept, “T.hink_ ye not for the morrow,” seems to have-possessioii of most minds, and they revel in the present as though it were going to continue for ever. A little careful consideration would convince farmers that men who would hahd out a gift of hundreds of thousands of ’pounds to them on the eve of an election would just as quickly and readily take twice that sum. from them as soon as .. the elections are over. Such -_.ngs are not statesmansrhip, nor even decent politics, and it is not that class or politics that is going to save New Zcaland and producers from the fearful conditions, which we know from experience of past wars and can clearly discover in the trend of international life‘and movement, are now only a very few years distant. New Zealand should never have been treated as though it were in the war zone, and if politicians had the soul to soar above the thought that‘ New Zealand must do this or suffer that simply because ‘England, "France, and Belgium are compelled to do or suffer, 21 new and better prospect would be at once opened up. No greater menace to the life and prosperity of this Domillioll ever arose than that of the appalling destruction of shipping by the 6119111)’, yet at no time did our Government do one stroke towards ensuring a (lel.>t‘fldable -supply of ships to take away what farmers Were producing We haVO stressed the shipping’problem abOV6 all others because we, as Well as -all other people, cannot ‘help seeing 1’«-at it is no earthly use to go on producing what_ we cannot sell.’ In fact, the" two questions covering all this country’s,troubles, national, industrial and social, are want of shipping, and want of parity between prices of life DBOOS- - V and Wages; shipping is a national-problem, the other is a social and industrial problem, but having solved both there would be nothing standing in the way of national adVnncemcnt to a height unreachable by any other country or people. Government set up a Board of Mediocriffeg to find out how far-proiiteers could increase‘ prices and irritate the people -Without causing revolution, but no Board was set up to advise Govern-A

merit to ‘buy -ships whenit was seen that tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands ‘of tons were being sent to the bottom of the ‘ocean each‘ and every week and unonth. It is not exaggeration to ‘state that New Zealand farmers have ‘lost millions of pounds owing to their lack of that higher business instinct ‘that is, unchecked, running riot in the ,United States Instead of holding up ‘this country’-'5 business throughout the iwar its people have allowed themsel‘ves to become the victims of trusts and syndicates from outside, and prolfiteers from within. While farmers are ‘paying fifty pounds for, say, wire, ‘they know as well as the men who are robbing them that it should be but ‘twenty pounds, but they cannot help ‘themselves; an incapable‘, ibusiness‘lacking Government has placed them in . the talons of the vulture and they must ‘submit to being plucked and fed upon.‘ ‘There is a secret proposal under way ‘for fighting the old shipping ring with a new shipping ring, but are farmers ‘so gullible as to be made to think ‘that the new ring will, if it succeeds, ‘be -any more merciful ‘to them and their industry? The men, or the party, ‘that will immediately put shipping up"on a firm, stable, unimpeachable basis "are "the men deserving of support at the elctions, for they are the men that ‘ are going to solve New Zealand’s greatest proiblem. shipping is this Domin'ion’s supreme need; it is the superlative necessity of every producer whose ‘ produce ‘has to be exported for sale; ‘ ‘nothing can replace shipping; there is] absolutely nothing by which it can be ‘ ‘substituted, until aeroplanes and air-‘ ‘ships enter the freighting arena, and‘ ‘yet the Government elected to attend to the country’.s most vital needs has‘ done ‘nothing towards making shipping sure without committing produc'ers to a system of extortion which‘ robs them of what. they have earned. There is no question that a candidate‘ for Parliament should be more sound upon than that relating to shipping,‘ and does it not seem strange to farm01's that this very question ‘is being ‘kept at the back of all others, sense-‘ ‘less and sensible, important and unlimportant? Electors are displaying a belief in shiblboleths’ having super-‘ natural powers to save them from the‘ depressing times that all parties" are‘ agreed must cffne’; are putting!’ blindtrust in one bell-weather or another, never once th,in.king.V:for__thenl:. selves; the politi'c’a”] shibboleth and. party slogan is all they desire as _.a‘ beacon to lead them; "they do not‘ think_ for tlie‘m_se-Ives, e\='en_a,s to how their produce that 13 piled up on‘ shore is going to be got ‘away without‘ ships. Farmers cart their wool to the‘ railway and drive their sheep to the‘ freezer, but many never enquire or‘ trouble at all about how both are going to arriveiwhere‘ they are exchangeable‘ for money. People are being inflluenc.-l. ed by cozening and cajolery instead of‘ asserting themselves, and exhaustively studying the political platforms and . manifestos put forward‘ by the three‘ parties who are busily canvassing! their votes. Many unthinking electors‘ are being hoodwinked by specious reasoning and disgusting twaddlc, that is‘ fraught with danger and disas_ter. It‘ is indeed time that every holder of the - franchise, man and woman, seriously took stock of how he, or she, :-tends in the political tornado that is new raging. Thoughtlcssness now may‘ spell revolution during the next three years; indifference at this time may‘ bring about a slump in land values and render the producing collu2u.lll‘.ty' slaves to trusts and combines DL-';fo!'e‘ the popular voice can again be I'aise--:1 in choosing a parliament; what pre-‘ cautions are we taking while We lmve the opportunity to ensure the election‘ of an honest. progressive pa.rliame.nt‘ thatwill make its first duty one of seeing that this island country is not left stranded in the great Pacific Ocean ‘ without ships adequate “for taking away its produce so that no good 1: .ar—ket may be missed? snippiiig is ‘ell’-*‘ greatest national prehleni in New Zea- ‘ land, just as the esta‘Jll~.=l=.lnellt of a honest parity between wages and the‘ cost of living is of the most vital im-. port socially.and industr-ially. Solve‘ these two problems and e\'er}’ 01319?‘ difiiculty fades into nothingness.