The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 1920. BETTER EXPLANATIONS WANTED.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3385, 14 January 1920, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 1920. BETTER EXPLANATIONS WANTED.

With which is incorporated “The Taihape Post. and Wnimarino Newn.”

One is loewil lered to even guess what I the constant increase in the cost of‘ necessaries is going to result in. \Vllenl Peace came, and a satisfactory ‘arrangenient was agreed to‘ by all‘ parties to the conflict it was freelyl stated that means of life w-ould gradually revert to normal in so far as prices 1 and supply were involved. That this view was nothing‘ short of a gruesome error all are now well laware, for prices of food and of raw material used in essential industries continue -to soar higher and higher. Various individuals have ‘tried t-o furnish logical justification for the nevepending succession of price increases; one alleged expert. esslayed to make it clear why a suit of clothes would cost anythingl from ten to -twenty pounds, and he had ‘ the audacity, to -tell intelligent people that l'hCi=,'\\'ool, for which he paid fourteen pence cost thirteen shillings to comb, card, spin, and weave it into cloth; truly a profiteer needs to be an accomplished and a.ud'aeious liar. The New Zealand farmer pays twenty pounds an acre on which to grow wool; he buys, feeds, dips, and shepherds sheep for a whole year; he; pays thirty shillings ‘per hundred for shearing,| sorts, presses, finds woolpacks, carts and freights his Wool to valuation de—l pots on the seaboard, and he gets four- , teen .pence a pound for it. His twenty pound an acre land may carry three sheep to the acre, and each lanimal may return him eight pounds of wool, l despite deaths, and other losses, and: added to this he’ has one pound of wool M taken for nothing out of every hundred pounds he markets, by way of what is unreasonably termed “draft.” The ftarmer from his ‘three sheep to the acre land earns, as we have Seen, t“'ont)’~eight shillings from each acre P9l‘ annum, and the wool it takes him a year to grow, we are insultingly told, COS’£S thirteen shillings to make each Pound of it into cloth for ordinary menls Suifing. W_e ask -our readers, who are the profiteers, the men who €l"°W Hl6 V__Vool, or those who manufacture it?lAnother expert in (mono. ml_cS explains the sllol'tag‘e of everythmg men, women, -and children need to retain life in their bodies is caused by the witlidrawal of millions of people from llrodlmtiéll, during the war. This Sounds, at the moment, a very feasible contention; but -as we cannot know how it has °Pol‘ated in other countries, let us see how it has afi’eel‘ed New Zealand: Where there are exact figures to guide us. We sent as many men as any Other country, proportiona.‘te 1:0 PolJlll'a.tion, no less than ten per cent of New Zcaland’s manhood being claimed for the war. By examination of records of produce‘ exports we are forced to the ‘conclusion that the -men who stayed at home “did their hit” manfully, for taking wool, the chief article of export. there was an actual increase of quantity marketed in 1919 Will‘ 1913 of. nearly a million pounds Weight,» the oflicial figures bein3”l9l9’ 278,250,285 pounds; 1913, 136,533,036 Pollnds. Frozen meat was exported in greater volume in 1919, showing about a similar increase -to that in Wool. From 1914 to 1918 there was a decrease Of exports, but this may not have r“efleoted the actual production owing to SlliP' Ping exigencies. Butter exports 3.6‘ clined from 1914 to 1917, but in 1919 a most remarkable recovery is SIIOWU3 the figures are: 1917, 254,397 hundredweights; 1919, 399.18] hundredweights. The export -of cheese in 191-9 constituted aneasy record, it aniounting to

nearly one million and a-half hundredweights. Therefore, it will be seen that it Was not production of necessaries of life that languished though ten per cent of our manhood being -taken away to curb the aggressor. The actual figures are against these experts who are merely anxious to ' find any plausible excuse for their venal prac-,.~ tices. Production of meat and raw material for clothing has increased during the war both in volume and value, therefore it cannot be said that shortage results from men being taken from Csscntial industry. It is industry that was not found essential that be came neglected, public works, roadinaking‘, bushfalling, bridge-building, house-building, -and such like are the industries that were aifected adversely in New‘ Zealand, and -the exact figures collected as statistics in other countries will probably be found to disclose about a similar condition. It is well known and ‘admitted that some Conxtinental countries did deplete their flocks and herds. and did fail to produce food ‘and clothing essential to the health of their people, but that fact does not affect New Zealand and other British Dominions only in tending to increase the value of their products. Britain ‘is now producing more f-ood than before recorded in her history. Therefore the experts who claim that the shortage of essentials is due to our men being taken from industry are obviously making a blunder. If our farmers have less labour they must have Worked harder as they are actually ‘producing more meat and more wool. It is a. fact that there is no excuse for much of the shortage. Limited space. does not permit going into details in less important products, but most figures tell the same story of dishonesty in claiming shortage of production 'of essentials through men being taken for the war. There is one explanation which is admitted publicly by all lauthoritieg and governments, and that is ruthless profiteering.