CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 August 1916, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

THE CHEESE QUESTION*, The Farmers' Union Advocate writes regarding the cheese question as follows: "The experience of last year has shown that some of the farmers will take the line of least resistance where profits are concerned. The Government took a third of the output of our first-quality cheese at a fixed price. It was soon discovered that second quality on the market fetched more than thp prije offered by the Government and accepted by those who represented the factories, and the proportion of second-grade cheese suddenly reached an undesirable point. The result was, of course, bigger profits to a few of the companies, but at the expense later on of the reputation on the Home market for this New Zealand product—a matter for serious consideration." After referring in similar strain to the question of hides, oats and wheat, the Advocate declared that the complaints made by the farmers are. not put forward in any sellish, unpatriotic spirit. "The farmer," it concludes, "is anxious to make sacrifice; but as he expects to run his business successfully, he naturally expects the same consideration as 13 meted out to others. He is asked to pay the same j taxation on his profits as businesses which are- under 110 restrictions, and it is certainly unreasonable that his profits should first of all be restricted and then he taxed on the same basis."