PRODUCE PRICES.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2273, 17 April 1886, Page 2

PRODUCE PRICES.

The wholesale prices of produce in Masterton at this date are as follows:—Fresh butter, 9d to lOd; eggs, Is (id; bacon and hams, 7d; oats, retail, 2s 9d ; wheat 4s. ; cheese, 6d to 8d; potatoes, local grown,. 4s 9d retail. ;"

SATURDAY, APRIL 17, Ml WASTEFUL LAND BOARDS, e The Waste Land Boards of New Zealand have, under the auspices of the present liberal' Ministry, become' emphatically' '"wasteful" Land .Boards, and in various parts of the colony attention is being directed to the most unjustifiable expenditure which is now incurred in connection with their meetings. Mr Stout, like Major Atkinson, has been inculcating thrift and economy, but. unlike his predecessor, he does not practice what he preaches, Major Atkinson when in power held the purse strings of the colony with a rigid hand, but now they are so much slackened that thousands and tens of thousands of pounds are slipping away in,all directions, and additional taxes are demanded to cover the nrofligacy of the Government, At a time when hundreds of working men are subsisting on charity, friends of the Ministry are provided with comfortable allowances under the very transparent cloak of travelling allowances. New members: of the various Waste Land Boards of the colony receive an honorarium which is almost equal to the allowance made to members of the Legislature, In many instances we believe they draw as much as one hundred and fifty' pounds a year, and even this sum does represent the plunder which some of them receive, We heard of an example the other day which shows how true Liberals find a consolation for the services which they render to the colony. A certain patriot in the Middle Island has arranged that his Land Board and the Education Bourd of which he is also a member, should meet on the same day. He draws travelling allowances from both bodies, and also enjoys a free pass on the railway which takes him to town. We hope he has a wife and family to support as the money he takes out of the public purse is more than a bachelor ought to spend. , The waste of our Waste Lands Boards is, however, a serious subject! Sometimes when a Board meets it k an open question whether enough land hit fotn

sold since the previous gathering to pay tke expenses of of the members attending it. Each meeting of each Board swallows up the. proceeds of a section of land, and at the present rate of consumption it,will not take the members of.the Land Boards many years to pass into-their pockets the proceeds of all the waste lands in the colony. It must be borne in mind, too, that this reckless extravagance has been inaugurated by the present Ministry! There is no precedent for it in the past, and if it cannot be stopped in the future, the condition of the Colony will be deplorable in the extreme,