CORRESPONDENCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 April 1917, Page 6

CORRESPONDENCE.

1 DAIRY FARMERS* GRIEVANCES. To the Editor. I Sir,—T sec by an ailvcrtiscnipnt in ' your valuable, paper that the fanner.-: of Urpiiui and surrounding districts intend to form a branch of the Hairy Farmers' Protection League) ami I tiiink it is high time that our own and other districts followed sMiit, for there is nu doubt that the dairy farmers, and particularly the cheese factory suppliers, have been cruelly and unjustly treated by the powers that he. I will ask yon, Mr. Editor, from your own observations, experience and knowledge ' of affairs, whether you think there U any distress in New Zealand which justifies the. dairy farmers being penalised for at least a quarter of a million sterling to provide cheaper butter for the community? [The question has been thresHi'cd out at innumerable meetings which have been reported in the Press and different resolutions eanyed condemning the incidence of the tax that it seems superfluous reiterating it, but most of the discussions have been on general lines, while, I should like to point out how it affects the individual company and supplier. Take our Okato Company* for instance, with its' 50 suppliers manufacturing about 500 tons of cheese per annum, and last year's supply, as a basis, the butter fat. levy at %d works out at £1483, an average of nearly £3O per supplier, but that is not all 'by any means. This company sold its output at 1) 5-8 d per lb. When the Imperial flovernment commandeered the cheese supply at !)'/ 2 d our national muddlers-, under pressure from the South Island cheesemen, who had made a bad bargain, and without consulting the North Island factories at all, saw fit to break all contracts, whereby the company lost l-8d per 111., or £■sß3, and on top of that, to keep tllie British speculator quiet, they demanded that all factories that had sold should be mulcted in a, further 1 l-4l per cent, for commission, which amounts in oiuv casa to £554- making a. grand total of £-2ft>o from a factory of 50 small suppliers, an avarajge of £52 8s each. Just think of it! And not to help pay for the war, cither. Now l , we will take two typical instances of how it affect? the individual supplier, the figures I can vouch for as being taken from last year's income tax returns. No. 1, mixed farmer, milks 45 cows; his last year's gross income), with all the high prices was £7OO, but, after paying interest, rent, rates, wages, insurances, loss of stack, and the hundred and one other things incidental to running a dairy farm, his nett income for himself and wife was £250 (what a huge amount to pay a dairy farmer and his wife for 3G5 days from daylight to dark and often longer after years of a mere pittance!) His position this- year is he pavs rouglily £2!) butter fat levy, £lO to the specu'latml. and loses £ll through broken contracts, a total of £SO No. 2 farms about 100 acres; himself and wife milk 24 cows, gross income £4OO, nett income £l5O. He pays £lB 15s levy, £7 to the speculator, and 10..es £7 5s over broken contracts; total £33 from a man and woman who only get £l5O a year, while a boneficient Government adds 5 per cent, to the wages of a civil servant getting £3OO, and bleeds the farmer and his wife with £l5O to give him cheaper butter. This sort of tiling is only .possible under a Monarchy or National fiovemment or Cabinet rather. I don't think members of Parliament ha.l anv idea when helping to pass the War Regulations Bill that it- was going to be misused in this manner. Our Taranakl members did not; that's q.iite evident, and although they have their, hands practically tied until Parliament meets. I expect to hear them denounce the measures in no uncertain terms when that time arrives, even to the extent of forcing a political crisis which, has done so much good'in other countries. Is it any wonder that dairy farmers are protesting, and auctioneering firms'have every day booked for clearing sales presently? No body of men with any backbone are going to put up with injustices like these without kicking about it. We have Uio pretty spectacle of the Acting-Prime Minister stumping the country exhorting farmers to keep up the production while his colleague in office imposes unjust class taxes on the same farmers True sincerity, is it not? Sir J. Allen would do more to help production in. one act Iby abolishing these cruel impositions than lie- would by all his power of oration even if he exercised it as long as a dairy farmer works. Ecfore concluding, I would like to say a word or two about that Hawera meeting. If you remember, a notice was inserted in your paper convening an important meeting of dairymen at Hawera. A good many representatives went down from North Taranakl expecting one of Wie important things to be discussed was the 1 1-4 per cent, levy. What was the result? The chairman openeil the ball by trying to split the cheese and butter men at a time when all should be united, A protest against this 1 1-4 per cent, was broached several tinier and was embodied in one or two resolutions, to all of which the chairman turned a deaf car, or refused to consider, saying, if your report is correct, that those factories that were paying it could look after themselves. Mr. Powdrell admitted he was in Wellington nvhen the negotiations were in progress between the South Island representatives, the cheese buyers and tho/Qovcrumenb, and he must have had somo idea of the nature of the proceedings, but he says 'he had no authority to act. Now Mr. Powdrell is a director of the National Dairy Association which has somewhere about lu'O cooperative dairy factories as subscribing members. This association professes to be formed for the benefit of the dairy industry, collectively and individually, I take it, yet here we have a director of that association knowing wdiat was going on\. and must have known it would affect many of the subscribing members, absolutely taking no action, not even letting those members know the nature of the proceedings, because he bad "no authority to act!" The reason is not far to seek. Kaupokonni had consigned, and it did not affect him. and, a<i he said at the mcsthig, those that sold can look after themselves. But the climax came in appointing the eommi'ibc to «o to Wellington, the members <,f -' ■ <h were already at loggerheads <v ;-n relative values of butter and <•' \l- - the meeting was most mi -■":- factory. As to the Farmers' J.cairi'" it is quite time W;e farmers learned the va lue of unity. North Taranaki,, with its hnndreds of small dairy farmers, is admirably suited to form a league of its own. A branch could be formed up the coast, ene down the coast, and another or two inland. Each branch appointing delegates to form an executive body to meet in New Plymouth would he the most workable arrangement to suggest. By getting to work now something may be done by tho time, Parliament meets

to have some of our injustices removed and to put, the dairy farmer on the "Mmo terms as oilier industrial entcrpiis.es. I trust the farmers of Urenui will start the bill rolling in earnest, and set an example so that we all can follow. ,1 conclude;, Mr. Editor, by thanking you for so' much of your valuable space.—l am, etc, J. WUOI.ntUDGE. Oksto, April 15th, 1017.

GERMANISM IN THE PRESS. To the Editor. Sir.—l give you every credit for the way in which you have consistently condemned the low-down tactics of (he Germans as a warring nation in the worldwide conflict now going on in Central Europe, and it is, therefore:., rather surprising that you should allow the like dirty methods to befour your correspondence columns, as witness the letter of the. literary assassin who dubs himself ■'■ dim the Penman" in your issue of the 12th inst. Any man who viciously attacks another by name in the public prints and basely conceals his own identity under a pen name,, is exaetly on a par with the cowardly assassin who shoots his victim from behind a hedge. ''l'd sooner be a dog, and bag the moon, than such a Roman!" "Fair play is bonnio play;" but literary assassinism is nothing better than murder by the pen. Surely it is the duty of the' editor to bar that sort of thing absolutely. That the proper name of the writer is known to the editor is far from being enough, for surely the attacked person has' a right to know the full name and standing of the writer who would rob him of his reputation and good name. Moreover, the public have a right to know their would-be who would murder reputations On the quiet. Public discussion in the newspapers becomes ■an absurdity where literary assassinism is tolerated. In order to show that this henchman of Mr. J. B. Simpson is as Ignorant as he is vindictive observe, the following quotation: "I do not contend that Mr. Simpson and .. . should be regarded as Impervious to criticism. . ." No doubt the writer meant 'immune from criticism'' if h~ could gnly have struck the sense of wlp.t he was trying to say. But as he puts it, it amounts to the contention that though Mr. Simpson is thick skinned enough the writer does not contend that Mr. Simpson could not be reached, or got intn, by criticism! Truly, a wonderful piece of laudation! It is not a pen that "Jim the Assassin" stands in need of but a dictionary. It is pleasing to know that Mr. Simpson accepts the title of "Professor," and seems to be proud of it. But he lias no argument worth calling an argument, so I must close.—l amx etc., .). O. TAYLOR, Waiongona. [The letter objected to dealt' with Mr. Taylor's criticism, not with Mr. Taylor personally. We expunged from both letters what we considered were personal reflections. It is, we admit, difficult to keep a eurb on correspondents who will persist in personal abuse instead of keeping to the point, and arguing it rationally, but in this case we really cannot see that Mr Taylor has any cause for complaint, though, like him, we would have preferred the signature of the writer to be appended.—Ed.] PUMPKINS AND KUMI-KUMS. To the Editor. , Sir,-—T wov'd esteem it a favour if yon will through your columns notify the growers of the abova vegetables to bring or send all they can spare up to Saturday, ?Sth of this month, for the soldiers in camp at Fcatherstbn. The receiving place will be at Mr. M. Jones' old stable., opposite the Criterion 'Hotel. The only vegetables trie soldiers have had for a lonu time at Featherston are potatoes and an odd onion. A truck full or two at least is wanted;, because if only a small lot is sent it only goes on the officers' tables, from information I have received. Stratford people are, I hear, sending swede turnips. No doubt a good few schoolteachers in our New Plymouth radius would be only too pleased to assist by asking their scholars to contribute. Any of the above vegetables will be thankfully received by the Mayoress, Mr. O. E. Bellringer and, yours truly, DAN J. HUGHES.