Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954), Saturday 5 October 1935, page 15


Letters; to the Editor BUTTER ARGUMENT :: WEATHER SUGGES TION :: WAR VIEWS

WAR Sir,-.It Is an. extraordinary thing that people should be moved to write such rubbish as one reads sometimes in the correspondence columns.. In a recent issue, for instance, "Peter Faux" appears to approve of a statement made by a man named Lang to the effect that the H.M.A.S. Australia will be used "to lure us into war." Does he mean to imply that, at a time. like this, when the very existence of our Empero Is at stake, and many depend upon our 'co-operation with the Mother Country, our ships of war should be put away in some safe place, far from the danger zone, until such time as the danger shall have been removed? Your correspondent then proceeds to quote from an article entitled "Woman and War." He does not say who wrote it, or what paper printed it; but that doesn't matter, really: the thing' itself is bad enough. It is all about bankers and capitalists growing rich by reason of the fact that war is raging in the world. Nobody really believes that war, with all its horrors and all its inevitable destruction of property and waste of wealth, can, possibly be of any benefit to the property owner. EIveryone knows that the last war made the rich people poor. As for the bankers-well, if war. is .going to enrich them, bank shares ought to be good buying now, but. I haven't noticed any upward tendency in the quotations lately.EX=SOLDIER. EX=SOLDIER. Sir,-There have been several let. ters in "The Examiner" recently regarding the coming.war, and the decisions of the churches in Victoria, especially the Presbyterlan Aesombly's motion for consideration, were most significant. Perhaps the most dra. matic event of recent times was Dr. Fosdick's renunciation, which was as follows:-"I have an account to settle between my soul and the Unknown Soldier. I deceived him. I deceived myself first, unwittingly, and then I deceived him. assuring him that good consequences could come out of that. As a matter of hard-headed biological fact, what good can come out of that? Mlad civilisation, you cannot sacrifice on bloody altars the best of your breed and expect anything to compensate for that. . . . I, too, was persuaded that it was a war to end war. I, too, was a gullible fool, and thought that meo dern war could somenhow make the world safe for democracy. They sent men like me to explain to the army the high meanings of war, and by every argument we couldecommand to streng. then tlhelr morale. If I blame anybody about this matter it is men like m;self, who ought to have known beot teor. We went out to the army and explained to thoese valiant men what- a resplendent future they were prepar. Ing for their children by their herolec sacrifice. Oh, Unknown Soldier, how ever can I make that right with you? At any rate, I will myself do the best I can. to settle my account with the Unknown Soldier. I renounce war. I renounce war because of what it does to our own men. I have watched them coming gassed from the front line trenches. I have seen the long, long hospital trains filled with their mutilatedl bodies. I have heard the cries of the crazed and the prayers of those who wanted to die and could not, and I relrember the maimed and ruined men for whom the war is not yet over. I renounce war because of what It compels us to do to our enemies, .bombing their mothers in villages, starving their children by blockades. laughing over our coffee cups about every damnable thing we have been able to do to them. I renounce war for its conseoucnces, for the lies it lives on and propagates, for the undying hatreds it arouses, for the dicta'torships it luts in the place of demo? , cracy, for the starvation that stalks after it. I renounce war, and never again, directly or. indirectly, will. I sanction or support another. Oth, Un? known Soldier, -in penitent reparation I make you thlit pledge." Alas, how many soldiers, thousands -nav millions-were dece'yed. and ran bear out the above. . RETURNED DIGGER. BUSH NURSING Sir, A few words in regard to bush nulses and their salaries. It is pro. posed to raise the latter to £170 per year. Mr. Jackson considers It necessary in order to attract the desired class of nurse. Is there the desired type to be had in the state in view of the generally low educational standard that has ruled to the present time, fifth class until recently, and now the merit certificate? Very belatedly the Board of Public cealtllh proposes to raise the education standard of trainees to all hospitals to the intermediate examination, but that is two years ahead. In view of the fact that bush nurses are often called upon to do doctor's work, notwithstanding the tremendous disparity between the qualifications of a nurse and a medical practitioner, in the Interests of the sick folk concerned it is, urrently necessary that only the best type of nurse available be sent. Here I may state that. considering their quallflcatiors, nursing is one of the best paid branches of female labour to-day. BACK O' BEYOND. WHY SEEK SUBSIDY? Sir,-Mr. Neil Campbell, EM.H.A., in a column in "The Examiner" refers to the- State Government's promise to the Agricultural Btirean, finally wreck. lng sanle, as' he states,' . surely the Tnsmanlan farmero as an organised body have enougllh' moral and financial ability in them to form their own union without' camouflaging to. eny Government for assistance? '? nat finanelal help has any of our Tasmanian unlons--l.e., take the A.W.U., Textile,. and Timber Workers' Unions-received from any Government, present or past? None whatever. They simply started themselves, a tub on their own bottom. Each member pays lil 25s per annuel from the sweat of hlis own brow So surely our Tasmanian famsers can unite without advice or subsidy from anywboere, Our present Government taxes the union, workers' sweat pro rata with any farmer. NATIVE. CASE OF THE GUNDIAH Sir,--n thile issue of "The Exami. ner" dated Septembler 2S appears' a statement with 'reference to thile a. Gundlah. In that statement Dappears the following:-"It Is said that on three occasions there was Ift, of watear In the vessel"; and again, "It was disclosed that it was necessary to pump the vessel out on a number of occasions." Now, sir, as I WOs on. gineer on the vessel on the trip to Beauty Point, when all this fuss occurred, I am in the position of being able to refute those statements andi give them an absolute denial. The pumping of tlhe vessel was tnder nly jurisdiction, and at no time was it necessary to pump the vessel out, otherwise than the ordinary keeping of an cumulation of water down, and tlhe statement that there was 2ft. of water In the vessel on three occasions is also wrong, as at no time during our trip to Beauty Point was there more than l1in. of water in the ship, and that was after lying at anchor for 15 hours, as a test to record what water was leaking into thle vessel and at what rate per hour was it comting into the ship. I am sorry I lost the record of the rate per hour and thile quantity, bit a perul sal of my statement sworn before a jnstlce of the peace in Hobart will shllow that the vessel was leaklting only slightly, not pouring out of her sealns, as stated by the harbourmaster. And as a rejoinder I would state before any pairs to the vessel had been completed there is only a 25 per cent. Improve mnent in thle quantity of water finding its way into the vessel. I would like yoU to publish this letter to- let the public know the true facts of the ease, not a d'stoted werslon of It, as appearod last Saturday. ALFXANDER ROBINSON, Late Engineer a. Guadlah.

ATTITUDE OF THE COM ;IST PARTY Sir,-In your issue of September 2 the Premier (Mr. A. G. Ogilvie, . C.) stated that the 'Tasmanian Labour party upheld the League- of Nations' sanctions in the Italian-Abyssinian dispute. On the mainland. the Labour party is divided on this important questioln. On the other hand, the big industrial unions, unemployed organisations, and the Communist- party support the canctions. The Communist party's estimation of thed'situation is. hs follows:The very serious situation that lias developed ir the Italian-Abyssinian: dispute gravely menaces the peace of the world. To-day the slogan of the working class must be for peace, and every force c..ust be mobillised to work for peace. The Communist party declares that this can only be achieved by the mass struggle' against Imperialist war and the cotlective applicatlion of sanctions by members of the League of Nations. To call for and support a policy of neutrality means to' give Signor Mussolini license to dismember Abyssinia and destroy the peace of the world. Peace is indivisible, and an Italian-~ Abyssinian war will surely lead to a world conflaglution. In Europe, Herr Hitler is already waiting to 'attack Lithuania, as a prelude to intervention in the Soviet Union; at the same time Germany is Itching to seize Austria. The stage is set for a world conflict which would inevitably involve Australia. To fail to demand League action in the present situation is to invite' world war. When artiLles 10 and 10 of the League Convenants are read it will be observed that these covenants call for "collective action." Without 'collectiveo action, then the position materially changes. For instance, were Britain to seek to apply sanctions on her own initiative, then the "collective action" Is not taken. If Franco and Britain were to take action and the rest of the sixty.odd signatories to the League covenants ignored the covenants, then again "collective action" is not taken. The position has to be watched closely so that one or a group of nations do not agree to "divide up the territory," and under the guise of applying the sanctions, attempt to carry It contrary policy into effect. In such a case it would amount to nothing more than in Imperialist war. It is for this reason that we call for the collective application of the sanctions in the struggle for peace. What does the appllcation of. the sanctions mean? Does it mean that we in Australia rush poell mell into war and that hundreds of thousands. of troops leave these shores to go: overseas? Nothing of the sort. The sanctions provide for ecoponiomc and financial boycott of Italy, and only in the last analysis will the signatories of the covenant be called upon to provide a quota of military forces, and even tils last contingency seems too remote to be worthy of consideration. In the application of military sanctions the Suez Canal would in all probability be closed to Italy. What would her position then be? Shie would be rendered impotent-a survey of her geographlical position, the fact that hoe would only be able to reach the scene of war by traversing the waters of the west, south, and eastern coastlines .of Africa and have her base only' in Italian Somaliland proves this. Despite the mad ravings of LMutsolini and. the terrorism existing, it is obvious that all is not well within Italy. Opposition to war Is growing. To speak of neutrality, or of isolating ourselves in. the present situation, is tantamount to saying to Italy: "Go ahead; we are not concerned even if a world-wide war results on your actions." It is tantamount to saying to all the other nations: "Declare as many wars as you like; we are not concerned about tile mass slaughter of the peoples of other countries; we are only concerned with ourselves.". Can the "orking class believe in this? Certainly notl The working class of 'Australia, like the workers in all other parts of 'the world,- cannot be.neiltral in any' war. In this pdrticular. case, and under' the existing situation, to make no demand for the application of the sanctions simply means assisting Fascism to carry on its nefarious work. It means assisting Fascist Italy, and by so doing, giving precedent to Herr Hitler to follow the steps of Signor Mussolini. We emphasise we will only support collective action sponsored .by the League of Nations. Should Britishl capitalism seek to exploit tLe mass sentiment for sanctions, in order to wage war on Italy, such a 'war woulrd 'be but' a predatory rmperialist' war against which the workers would be urged to fight. We fight for peace. The Labour movement throughout the world toi calling for sanctions to be applied; the Australian working class cannot turn its back on the working class of the world-on international solidarity. The policy of "no sanctions" means war. The collective application of sanctions through the instrumentality of the League of Nations offers the way for peace. . W. DAFT, Secretary Communist Party Local." L!IRARIES Sir,-Led me try to stimulate interest in the municipalities of Nortllern Tasmania in. the claim that "libraries are an essential part of the people's welfare, and one just as im-' rortant to the development of 'the people as tile making of first-class roads. It should be the caim of all concerned wit:, municipal politics to work towards the rate-supported library, without which we cannot hope to come inrto line culturally with other countries. While Great Britain, thd United States, and to a lesser degree Canada and New Zealand, have made creditable progress in establishing ratesrpported municipal libraries, Au?s. tralias has accomplished almost nothing. As a whole Australia was better supplied with local libraries in 1880 than to-day. It is pathetic to observe the pride and complaccncy with whichl local committees exribit wretched little institutes which have long since become cemeteries of old and forgotten books. J. E. SHEEHAN. EQUALISATION SCHEME Slr,-I would like to.refer to Mr. II. E; Fowell's figures,:given in his letter on thie ec,ualisation, scheme, quoting London prices which he says were for -October, 70s ewt.; November, 7hs .cwt; December, 72is cwt.; January, SYs crt.; Ferbruary, 90s cwt; March, 76ls cwt. From the printed list .of a'.LonLondon broker thley .give the f.ob. Austlrlian equivalent prices, as here set down-October. 74s 10d cwt: Nocembdr, 83s 6d cwt: Docembcr, S2s 4d cwt. January, 97s 2d cwt.; February. i8s 5d cwt: MIarch, 89s 9d cvt.; .April, I2s 4d owtl These figures are thie. highest for any week in the monthl quoted, Mr. Fowell says the prices paid on thle farms by his company for choicest butter were-October, 9d; November. Sd: Decembe., 7rd; January, Slid; February, 9d; March, Str6d per pound. TiThe farmer would have to contribute out of these returns to thie Sydney ISgquallsation Company 3d per pound for stamps, wrhich would leave himnt an average for thie butter made during the producing months of 5 1-3d per pound. Mr. Fowell as a business man and oa butter factory manager could melt this butter, run it through his ult-to-date plant, remove thIe smells, put back moisture and salt, place it for winter sales In his refrigerated rooms, and the market value of such butter in May to Augunst would be from Is 2d to is 3d per pound at tIle very least Mr. Fowell's letter tookle up a lot of space in "Thie Examlner," but I suggest that he writes again his opinions on the figures quoted above. The 5000 dairy farmers In Tasmania (and there are more making butter at home than supplying cream to a factory) cannot have too much information upon the benefits conferred through thle wonder-. ful scheme of equalisatlon which makes the selling price of factory butter Is 3d per pound wholesale, and the consumer pays up to Is 6d per pound for his needs, which are. con

sequently less than if sold at a cheaper rate or at the real market value, and this scheme returns 9,/ld. plus a bonus of 10 per cent., for butter fat to. the farmer sending his cream to the factory, which uses the 3d per pound froln the dairy farmer to give this result, and returns to hinl, on Mr. Fowell's own figures. 5 1-3d per pound. .with no share in the profit received back from London. Getting on to hMr. Fowell's personal references to himself in his letter to you, he must have had lmany happy trips during his connection with the tlxport Board and Stabilisation Coinlmittee to all part of the Commonweallh, and including his wonderful tour in the united Kinhgdom, expenses paid by us dairy farmers. I also had a visit to the Old 'Country. 1914-191S, and since have had periodical sojourns with the "Repat" Hospital. We were away in tile. years mentioned to defend our farms friom foreign invasion, and being successful there it is not our intention now to be swallowed: by the Sydney Eaualisation Committeo-we can still mnlnd our own affairs. W. F. 3F. EVEN. President, Primary Producers' United Union Colebrook. QUITE WEATHERLY Sir, I am sure that all those who peruse the weather forecasts will' feel a strong sympathy for the compilers. It is remarkable how often that capricious being, the Clerk of the Weather, flouts their most earnest efforts. TJlese men take their work very seriously. I wish to offer a suggestion which may tend to a better feeling between the w.'eather and the prophets, and make more credible the undoubted efforts of the latter. The suggestion is neither new nor original, but it brought tahme to the late Mr. Wragge. who was holioured by the prefix "IN" to his front name of Clement. WVhen any of these weather giants, placid or otherwise, appeared itn the olnng, 'Mr. \Wragge promptly gave them .the dignity of a name. Presentday forecasters simply refer to them as "High Pressure Systems," "Cyclonic Centres," and so on. Does it not convey the same gesture' of contempt as when we refer to "That manl" or "That woman 1!" What's in a name? A. great deal. The general public sat up and took notice. The Clerk of the Weather did likewise, and the flattered disturbance, or non-disturbance, did what was expected of it. I rememulber one Antarctic ruffian well. The name of "Pokol" was conferred upon him. He was an energetic, blustering fellow, who up.rooted trees, blew down fences, poured torrents of rain upon the earth, and followed out. the forecast so exactly that he brought still greater fame to his prophet. Out of this has arisen the idea that an even better method of nomenclature than capturing Greek and Latin names, would be to honour that vast army of pollitcans, both past and prosent, and other notables. It would confer an everlasting compliment-upon many who pass on unhonoured and unsung, and would surely tickle the vanity of the weather. And, greater than all, people would read the forecasts and' believe them. An example. "A tropical disturbance-Lang -of great energy and intensity, lias covered practically the whole of New South Wales. This is being followed later by a high-pressure system-CGame-when conditions may be expected to improve," Or"two cyclonic centres, Lee and Ogilvi'o-are located at the north and south of Tasmania. respectively.' The evident merging of these two disturbances will result: in fierce gales at high seas along the coast. Shipping warned!" And once .more. "A ' vast highpressure system of definite characterOckerby-is steadily' moving eastwards. Conditions are, expected to become exceedingly dry." G. GH. B.ARNARD.