CORRESPONDENCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 February 1917, Page 8

CORRESPONDENCE.

-1 XI REGIMEXT CAMP. ■i To the Editof. J Sir,—May I again crave space in your ;_,veolumnK to appeal for assistance for our 7 ! -C.E.MjS. 'Recreation Tent at the forthJ jcomine camp? 'A commitee of the has arranged for the tent, furetc., and we shall be glad of | Eifts of magazines, papers, frames, etc. i,S Jh. fact-anything that will interest and | *mvs« the boys in their spare time. We |; ] tope that some of our. musical friends Y Till come out and give us some eon. j. certs. Tto members of the band have ?• Itindly promised to play on Sunday *:■ -morning at the church parade, and also '* dufing the afternoon when a great & Jnany- visitors are sure to be present. p'jbe thankM' bf small donation? toward* THfi'Rev H. A. Favell, Mr J. 0. pl&t (Mty'lfoMO; and Mr H. Baker, lyfflteVon Street} Will rec'aiv-i any gilts.— ©fipaafr, etc., ' Mr' . T. G, EVANS,.. „ ' tjeut.-Colonei Chaplain. ||, JflE-llOAttD Off AGRICULTURE. 'Pk:\ • To Editor. Sir/—|Jl to^pro-

;ions in a new country ars constantly and rapidly changing (as is but natural) those who have notictd tliat the conservatism inherent in" the majority of the farming class is detrimental to such receiving full benefit of its labors and a proper expansion of the industry—all these, 1 ?.iy. cannot liclp but heartily agree with the views as expressed by Air. 0. Hawker- at the meeting of the A and P. Associations at Hawern, the report of which appeared in your issue of Friday last. By printing a full reyort of the speeches made the Press is to be commended, and I hope it will strongly back up the claims nf the speaker for full publicity to be given the deliberations and recommendations of the Board of Agriculture, a body ' wh-cii should be of enormous benefit to the farmers of all grades. The farmer looks to his paper for information as to ; the progress,of movements calculated to be of assistance to him, and when the Government of the day deemed it of importance to initiate the Board but gave thai, body no administrative power, if. •practically nullified the useiulness of the combination by not giving its meeti ings, etc., publicity, it makes the forma- | tion of the body just an insult to tils intelligence of the farmers who believe , in progressive methods, while the farm- ! era in the bulk are to blame for allowing such to continue, the conservatism of iiueh, touched upon by Mr. Hawken, i no doubt, being the reason. Mr. Dingle's I revelation 4s to the methods of the Minister "goes to prove that there is no I teal interest given the matter 'by our yr«pomibl? men in Parliament, and to tiie .War a& the cajjse of tho laxity

of attention to snc-li a vital question is simply adding to the insult. Mr. Hawken hits the "right nail when lie points

out that "there were men representing tile Fanners to-dav who were representing it 20 years ago, ete." uf course! And they will not jet the 1.-rrow off the old nit I have written many letters, llr. Editor. as readers are no doubt aware, pointing out this pha.se of the ouestion as nflVictin? real progress being made for the benefit of the farming e'ass, ind, iike Mr Kawkeii, will GtiU contend "that many men who were repre;enting Liie farming opinion of Xew Zealand to-day are out of touch to a very large extent w.th modern farming opinion," and will further endorse the opinion expressed by that gent that the hulk of the fanners are led astray by the Press of the country not giving fnli promiw-nr; or tonsidvnutun to the \iews of the younger or more progres--:ve farmers as against those of the fosX:'. I reeogimse the Press as a tro- • ■ : <I v: educative factor hut ihink new ein-hl receive more consideration ■; been evidenced in the past, "d far an all round shake up, •V!, er the better. However, 1 ,:■} treasure the paper conThe* published of the ' d should a'so make - : ■ ■■ ■ "h regard to full jmhmeetings of the T wish to pubi Tfawken for his qu-iition as he any " •• are uot a few 1 ' --uti in vhu reforms ' 'K B. SIMPSON.' 1). ; •' v'j/nary 17. P A ACTUAL PATRIOTISM. To the Editor.

Sir, —Rending J. 0. Taylor's letter of Ihe lGth Inst, one would naturally think that J.O.T. was somebody. But in studying the contents of his effusion anybody can gee that it i< only the agitation of a squally mind, imbued with a high percentage of Seventh Navigation, . which is interpreted as main strength and awkwardness. He is ready to kick the weak when he gets then! down and tlways prepared to uphold tiia cause of the pious rich. Whilst this is Known to bo a time of huge profits in every industry in the British Kmpire and considering the working man's living is costing him fully double what it cost him before the war. J.O.T. thinks that the working limn ought to be satisfied with the same old rate In order to enable his employer to reach the million marl: all the sooner in his allotted span. Contrast J.O.T.'s idea of dealing with the worker with that of the dairy farmer, a profession in which he is interested himself. J.O.T. and other* of his elans \v#re prepared to deal out dire vengeance to the Government that limited the prc> of butter in New Zealand, although with the reduced price it will net doublethe price of 1013. Oh dear! What a (Jlflfprcnee it makes whose ox is gored! lfe fs prepared to make food for powder and shot on the halter of the worker it' he is not satisfied with mere bread, and thinks the sooner the better. But perhaps T am doing Mr. Tavlnr an injustice Perhaps it is what he means—the sooner the Government take over those industries and nationalise them for the peopl - the hotter, not alone during the war'but for all time. The workers are prepared to work for the olil figure if the State Is going to get the benefit. But thev don't fuel inclined to starve themselves for the sake of oijficliiiig the monopjist, and, to my poor way of thinking, they are showing a finer spirit and more patriotism than any other elans of the community. J.O.T. reminds me very forcibly of a member of Parliament who made a speech some time ago to the c/Teet that raihvaymen ought to offer their services for less than before rather than apply for an increase. The said member at the time was drawing £3OO a year as member of Parliament, was also in possession of peverpl farms and was drawin an army captain's pay, and he did not offer to forfeit either one or the other. How magnaminous and patriotic when it is the other man's case! But how different when it touches ourselves! —I am, etc., JOBy DIGGINS. Lepperton, February 19, 1917.