CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 9, 11 June 1913, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

GIFT TO THE DREADNOUGHT MEN. Many farmers in North Taranaki are very disappointed with the position in regard to the proposal to give the crew of the Dreadnought when the vessel arrives here a few crates of cheese and boxes of butter, and it is probable that independent action will be taken by several dairy companies. The produce is in store at the Freezing Works, and there will be no difficulty in carrying out the project once the directors of the companies decide to make the gift, which, distributed amongst the shareholders, would amount to very little. We hope the proposal will materialise, if for no other reason than it would show the men of the "King's Navee" that the settlers of Taranaki realise and appreciate the protection the invulnerable navy of Great Britain lias given and still gives the producers of this outpost of the Empire. Without that protection, would our farmers be in the position they are today? It is hardly likely. The directors, in taking the initiative in such a matter, need not be concerned about the subsequent attitude of suppliers, who, if we mistake not, would endorse their action to a man, for our settler is first of all a patriot and never a skinflint.

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY. Dairying has boomed in New Zealand. The export returns show it plainly. And into the boom have come, as usual, a number of inexperienced people, hoping to make money—some by dairying, and some by buying and selling dairy farms and, incidentally, supplying milk to factories during the interval between purchase and sale. The movement of Home markets turned the main manufacturing stream towards cheese instead of butter. Another movement, and an unfavorable one, has brought down cheese prices with a run, and made buyers very captious about quality. Everything that could possibly have happened -to focus attention on quality has happened con> temporaneously with circumstances which have led to a falling-off in quality. Cheese, as a finished product, shows the effect of a tainted milk supply much more than butter. Dairy people have been concentrating on cheese, and, what with the advent of the milking machine and of a number of people new to dairying, our cheese standard has not been maintained. Home buyers have had a falling market to justify and accentuate their complaints, and, in short, there is great trouble in dairying circles here. Mr. Cuddie does not advocate more Government inspectors to enforce cleanliness. He has removed all excuse for disbelief in any need for improvement, and he expects dairy farmers, in their own interests, to effect it. They must see the reasonableness of this, for their own pockets stand affected. The position is that factory managers, the men who make the cheese, have their own individual reputations at stake. They have already power to refuse tainted supplies; but if those supplies chance to be forwarded by their own factory directors, then the refusal means that their billets are at stake. Mr. Cuddie asks that they be given a free hand. If they are not, it will spread until the sale of every additional milking machine will mean another nail in the eiilliii of our dairy export trade.—Dunedin Star.

SOUND FINANCE. Tlic sinking fund has in (.lie mind of Hie investor become an essential part of sound national finanee. and no loans will be well received by the people who have savings miles? they have this assurance of automatic liquidation. New Zealand lias made a good si art wilh the sinking fund scheme originated by Sir Joseph 'Ward, and this will probably have to be supplemented and improved. —Poverty Hay Herald.

Till'] KAKLY SF.TTLFKS. We are in receipt of a copy of a quarterly journal published by the. Wellington Early .Settlers' and Historical Association. It is a. very interesting publication, containing as it docs many splendid articles dealing with the early days of Wellington and several line photographic reproductions of groups of early settlers, etc. The Early Kecords Committee of Taranaki could with advantage follow the example of the Wellington Association and publish a similar jonni'l in connection with early Taranaki, which has a greater mine of historical and other material to draw from than probably any other port of New Zealand. Of course.

it' costa time and money to produce a journal quarterly or half-yearly, like the Wellington one, but we have not the slightest doubt that, if properly taken in hand, sufficient support would be forthcoming to enable it to pay its way. T.he matter is certainly worth the consideration of the Early Records Committee and the Veterans' Association.

UPPER HOUSE REFORM. An elective Upper House would, at lease, ensure honest legislation in the popular Chamber. It cannot be said that it is in the interests of the Dominion that the people's representatives should waste their time, and the time of the country, in bringing down electioneering measures which can be jettisoned by merely "tipping the wink," as it were, to the Legislative Council.—Wairarapa Age.