MR MORGAN AND FARM PRODUCE.

Waikato Argus, Volume VII, Issue 501, 17 October 1899, Page 1 (Supplement)

MR MORGAN AND FARM PRODUCE.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—Mr J. D. P. Morgan deserves the thanks of his fellow-settlers for his efforts to direct public attention to some of the disabilities that farmers are labouring under, and even if we do not quite agree with the steps he advocates or the conclusions arrived at, we must at least give credit for an earnest attempt to mend matters. It should, however, be apparent to anyone giving the question Berioua consideration, that Mr Morgan's proposals to artificially raise the local price of farm produce so as to keep in line with the Labour Unions are both impracticable and undesirable.

To illustrate this, let us glance at the conditions under which the Labour Unions are working and compare them with the producers of the raw material. Shortly ull that the members of the unions have to offer for sale is their labour, and the weekly wage given in exchange is practically the sum total of the income upon which they have to live. Here we have the whole thing in a nutshell. The interests of the workers, therefore, whether their numbers be 50 or 5000 are identical, not only in the main, but also in detail, and naturally it has proved to be the simplest thing in the world to organise them into compact bodies of voters, who have used their power at the polls to increase their income by the statutory raising of wages and lessen the labour given in exchange by—in the same manner—shortening the working hours. Now, when compared with these workers, what a miscellaneous group appears before us as we glance at the Sroducers. We may call them all proucers, bat having done bo the bond of unity between them is about ended. First we have grain-growers, who, given a better price for their particular products, are practically indifferent as to the returns received by dairymen for their labour, and who, in their turn, are almost wholly influenced by the price of dairy produce in foreign markets, and would, of a certainty, resent an artificial raising of the price of wheat if it meant any increase in the price of flour and bread. Then in the pastoral district, what assistance could, for a moment be expected from wool-growers and mutton exporters, for any movement, which, while adding to the cost of living and working their properties, would not put a penny in their pockets in return. One might go on through every branch of agriculture including fruit-growing, but it is not necessary. A mere glance at the conflicting issues that would be involved directly the great agricultural interests are touched, should convince anyone, desirous of looking at the matter impartially, that the possibility of such a movement as that of artificially raising the price of any important branch of farm produce is so remote as to put it far beyond the region of practical politics. But again if such a consummation as that suggested by Mr Morgan were possible, is it desirable, does it not strike us as being rather like the toper's remedy of " taking a hair of the dog that bit him," but which, though no doubt temporarily beneficial, has never been regarded as a remedy of permanence. Surely it is better for u« to look squarely at the cause of trouble, and at* tack it bravely. We have not far to look, there it is like a wall encircling New Zealand with gates so arranged, that the surplus agricultural produce representing the labour of the best men and women in the colony is allowed to go forth freely to be turned into gold to pay the colony's debts. Should, however, the producer (or his agent, the im{lorters desire that some of the returns be u the form of manufactured goods, then a heavy toll is charged upon almost every article, which by the time the duty, as it is termed, and the importer's profit on that duty are paid, is frequently about doubled in cost to the consumers, the excuse for this legal robbery being that certain local manufacturing industries, which, by a sort of grain fiction, are supposed to be of great national importance, as affording a market for farmers' produce should be fostered and encouraged, but which have in stern reality, proved to be the greatest curse that could have been inflicted upon every tiller of the soil.

It is clearly the interest and also the duty of everyone connected with agriculture, not to follow the wretched track of the unions, but to use every legitimate effort to have the Customs duties on the necessaries of life largely reduced ; if not altogether abolished, thereby making labour—whether applied to land or anything else—free to obtain its fair reward, being neither pampered nor oppressed, it is hopeless to expect agriculture to prosper while its great army of toilers (including masters and men) are reduced to the position of slaves by a few thousand organised schemers, who practically rulo the country, for it is absolutely certain that any class that can control the Customs, are, as a simple sequence, able to dictate the cost of living to every section of the community. The elections are at hand, and before getting a country vote, every candidate for Parliament should be pledged to support a reduction iu the duties on the necessaries of life. If this is done we may reasonably hope never again to witness the extraordinary spectacle of an administration—professing the principles

ofjdcmocracy—yet publicly boasting of having nearly half a million surplus of revenue over expenditure, which—if it means anything means that that amount —by cruel taxation on the necessaries of life has been needlessly wrung from a mere handful of people. —I am, ate, E. C. 3HHPHK3D.