"THEY TOIL NOT; NEITHER DO THEY SPIN."

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3644, 3 December 1920, Page 4

"THEY TOIL NOT; NEITHER DO THEY SPIN."

(To the Editor.) I Sir,—When butter is so high that you 'd think that all -the cows in the country were jumping the moon, and cereals reach cerulean heights, when hay is higher than you can toss it with a fork; the man at the corner - conceives that "cockies" are collecting countless thousands.

But all isn't gold that glitters; and, there is a class of shiny-shoed gentlamen who wGarTcreased pants and collars, who open their office doors at 9 a.m. and shut at 4 p.m.; who don't toil nor bother much about the proceeds of the producers; these are the "benevolent" financiers who suavely salute any toiler, who wants a bit of land he fancies, and wants a help to get it. '' Certainly,'' they say, upon his statement and deposit. 'We'll fix you up, and suppose you'll want some cows, "etc., and so on.

He gets fixed up all right., and wife arid kids start milking, or, ploughing, sowing, reaping and mowing, while the shiny man sits silently in his chair; and when the cream'that reaches the factory is filtered by him till the skira milk gets to the milker, and the grain grower (with luck) gets the husks, then; everybody, Box and Cox, ara sat isfied. I

Why however should this be? Why should man, woman and child splodge through winter mornings' mud? & Why should men work summer morn till dewy eve? Why should youngsters be worked in rags, and dressed to go to school and fall to sleep over their desks: all that these benevolent financiers" should enjoy such an easy life? A body of men who take other people's money on their certificates at 3 per cent and charge on landed se- • -it curity 20 per cent are not the people who make wealth, but live on those who do and constitute a burden (among others) which is somewhat crushing for his little country. In the Ballance-Seddon regime farmers got money on easy terms and at law interest, but under this Masseydonian domination it appears practically impossible, • and therefore they are compelled willy-nilly to fly to private money lending firms, who trouble not about about crops or' seasons, only to coßect their dividends, and if said seasons are bad just sell' up the people who have worked their insides out and sell to the next idiot, |

To travesty Tennyson: — Theirs not to trouble ■ why; Theirs just to sell and buy: Also to get the Guy, Who pays them hundreds. JAS. H. CO AD Taihape, 2nd December, 1920.