The Daily News. FRIDAY, JUNE 6, 1913. CHEAP CABLES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 5, 6 June 1913, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, JUNE 6, 1913. CHEAP CABLES.

Even at the ripe age of sixty-five Sir John Henniker Heaton is still as vigorous as ever in his eager prosecution of postal and telegraphic reforms. There is probably no politician or social reformer to whom the world owes more. He has devoted practically the whole of his life to cheapening under economic conditions the recognised methods of the exchange of social and general news through the far-reaching mediums of the postal and telegraphic systems. It is to him that we owe the wide penny postal service that is in existence,' the. cheapening of the international parcel postage system, the introduction of interchangeable money orders, and a dozen other conveniences that we now accept as if they were our legitimate due and had constituted themselves. Sir John —then plain Mr. Henniker Heaton. for lie four times refused to accept a 'K.C.M.G.ship—had to fight against all sorts of vested interests and dubious Government departments, but he has "won out" on practically every reform that lie has suggested. And now, in his declining years, when he should be smoking the pipe of peace under his own vines and fig trees, he is exercising himself with an attempt to secure a reduction 'of the cable rates between Great Britain and Australasia. He has certain land and Newspaper interests in Australia, and he has made these, and indifferent health, the excuse for a visit to Australia. A cablegram from Fremantle yesterday states that when I interviewed he expressed himself as confident that—

in time the ruling cable rate of the world would be twelve words for a shilling. He desired the Governments of Australia and New Zealand to co-oper-ate with him to that end, and trusted that they would not make this a party question. The main difficulty was the mountain of vested interests. of cable kings, and rings, which had seized the God-given gift of electricity and devoted it to the sole use of millionaires, to the exclusion of the pillions. Three hundred millions words could be telegraphed to America annually and only 20,000,000 were transmitted, in order to keep the cables idle and maintain the- shilling a word rate. The lines to Australia were capable of transmitting 50,000,000 words yearly, but only 5,000,000 were sent, "I would nationalise the cables, giving the companies a fair price," he concluded. These are striking figures, but coming from a man of Sir John's experience and reputation, they must be accepted as approximately accurate. It has always been demonstrated in the commercial and industrial world that the bigger the output the bigger the profit, and there have been many times when it lias been demonstrated that one bird in the bush is worth two in the hand, if it' can be approached with any degree of the certainly of it's capture. Everything that lies idle or is not speeded up to its capacity is a drain on the body economic, and if our cable system is capable of doing ten times the work it now performs, it should be asked to do it at a fair and reasonable profit. Trusts and corporations proverbially have no heart, and love to secure the best results at a minimum of labor. But this is no good to the general public, and Sir John's suggestion that the cable companies should be bought out and nationalised sounds to be an eminently practical one. The suggestion is to increase the service by cheapening the rate, and when lie tells us that this is feasible without hampering investment we are disposed to believe him. A cheaper rate would stimulate newspaper enterprise, and put, the individual man also in much closer touch with other •worlds. We are rapidly annihilating space by the chaining of electricity and the conquest of the air, and every move that attempts to cheapen and quicken these methods of communication should be welcomed. Sir John Henniker Heaton will be some time in Australia, and we hop" that our own Government will make an effort to induce liim to visit New Zealand, and will confer with him upon these matters. He stands alone in the century as a pioneer and expert in postal and telegraphic matters, and we cannot afford to miss his presence in our neighborhood.

QUALITY OF OUR DAIRY PRODUCE. There is one matter referred to in the annual report of the National Dairy Association, which.we reviewed in these columns yesterday, that calls for urgent consideration—and action. It is the quality of our dairy produce and tha necessity for maintaining it at any cost. It has taken New Zealand many years to establish a good reputation in England for its butter and cheese, but there is not wanting evidence that that reputation has of late been somewhat seriously impaired by the indifferent quality of some of the produce sent Hopie. The National Dairy Association states that the'quality of the butter has been kept up, but the Association is very cautious in its remarks concerning the quality of cheese, complaints regarding winch, however, it admits have been many and pronounced. The Association adds: Unquestionably the conditions under, which the raw material was being ( ,i,. tained and handled were undergoing an evolution, and if it were demonstrated that the flavor of the milk Avas materially. affected to its disadvantage, it was incumbent on these controlling the industry to remedy the defects. It might be necessary to adopt curative methods gradually that ivill have a beneficial effect. The lion. .las. Allen, who has just returned from bis trip Home, states that not only has there been cheese arriving in England from Xew Zealand of indifferent quality, but that there are complaints about the quality of our butter, lie says that these facts have been well known to those engaged in the dairy export trade. Complaints regarding the shipments of cheese had been frequent; some of the cheese, he ways, did not grade as first-class when exported, lie believes the matter could be remedied, the inferiority being due to faults in manufacture. Mr. Sawyers, an expert in dairying matters, speaking al the annual meeting ,{ the South Island Dairy Association 1

on Wednesday,, put his finger on the faults. The milk in the first instance, he claimed, was not in a sound condition when it reached the factories. This was due to the' dirty state, of milking, machines, only '2O per cent, of which, in Otago and Southland, were properly cleaned and sterilised. This was a strong statement to make, and it is not surprising that its accuracy was challenged by the delegates present, but Mr. Cuddie, the Government expert, backed it up, stating that out of three hundred machines that had been examined by the Department only 23 per cent, were clean, jlf this is the case in Otago and Southland, it is most probably the case in other parts of the Dominion. Here, then, we have one of the main causes, if not the only cause, of the deterioration in the quality of pur products. Mr. Sawyers suggested a remedy. It is, to amend the Act so as to provide that milking plants be erected to the satisfaction of the Department,, and until a certificate js issued a machine shall not be used for milking, half the cost of the work tp; be borne 'by the Government. This brings us back to the Dairy Regulations introduced —at the instance of thc : National Dairy Association, be it remembered—by the Hon. R. McNab, when he was Minister, for Agriculture, Had these regulations befcn in operation* there; is no doubt that we would not be hearing from all quarters the complaints we are 1 about the indifferent quality of our produce, and dairymen, who as a whole resented this Win of Government "interference" in the carrying on of their work, would have been the gainers financially. We admit that more discretion could have been exercised in the applying of those celebrated regulations, but that they were in the right direction must now be admitted even by those who at the time most bitterly opposed their introduction. Something of the kind is imperative, in order to save the good name—and the prices—of our produce; and the sooner a definite move is made in the matter the better will it be for the industry. Cases are not unknown in Taranaki where the whole supply of a factory is seriously affected by the dirty habits of one or two suppliers. It is monstrous that all should suffer for the fault of a few. Advice and persuasion are lost upon the lazy and dirty supplier. He responds to, and understands, one thing only, and that is compulsion, and it must be exercised by the authorities. The live and progressiye dairyman will not object to inspection of his milking machines or his yards and utensils; he would have nothing to lose and a good deal to gain by its adoption.