“OUT OF STEP”

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 240, 24 July 1935, Page 6

“OUT OF STEP”

LAND AND PRODUCE VALUES. THE RECENT LEGISLATION. MR T. D. BURNETT’S VIEWS. (Special to the “Guardian.”) TIMARU, This Day. Some aspects of recent legislation affecting the farming community were dealt with by Mr T. D. Burnett, M.P., in an address to farmers given under the auspices of the Temuka Farmers' Union yesterday. Mr John Macaulay presided. Mr Burnett said he thought it was a matter of congratulation that Messrs Forbes and Coates had arrived at such satisfactory results from their trip to the Old Country. Even those privileged to know had not expected that such good progress would be made in the clearing of the clouds that were obscuring the horizon for the primary produce of the Dominion to-day. Dealing with recent legislation, Mr Burnett said that he had been a member of the Stock and Agricultural Committee of the House which, about a year ago, had considered in detail the Scientific and Industrial Research Amendment Bill which provided for the imposition of a levy of Id a bale on wool with the object of assisting sheepraising scientifically in the Dominion. There lias been some divergence of opinion as to how the money raised was to be spent, and in the course of an investigation by the committee Mr W. W. Mulholland had conclusively shown by statistics that an average of 20,009 sheep a year were lost in New Zealand. It was an .astounding figure but was subsequently checked up and found to be a reliable estimate. The North Island members had favoured the money being spent on wool improvement but the South Island wanted it devoted to research and investigation into stock diseases. The speaker had advocated that policy, feeling that if the tremendous losses could be stopped it would be a definite step forward in assisting the primary producer to recover his balance. He had also thought that the money to be spent on the work should come out of the Consolidated! Fund and not from a levy. In the near future something definite would come down to help wool research and investigation into stock diseases. The lifting of the embargo on the importation of livestock from Great Britain bad also come before tlie House, and! ho had been tlie only member of the Stock and Agricultural Committee and on the Government side of the House who had stood out decidedly for the retention of the present restrictions. However, the question had been referred to breeders throughout the Dominion, and he was pleased to say that they had been almost unanimous in their desire for retaining the embargo.

Meeting the Depression. Mr Burnett traced the circumstances that had led up to the plight that primary producers found themselves in to-day. Commencing in the years around 1920 when New Zealand exported £56,000,000 worth of primary produce, there commenced an unparalleled land boom in the course of which. people lost all sense of land values. Then came the collapse of the world’s markets, and the Government was faced with the collapse of the primary producing industry. The country formed a National Government and commenced the first of its “shock-absorbing legislation” gradually easing down the position. Commencing with reduction in interest rates by 20 per cent and a cutting down in Government expenditure by some £lO,000,000, tho Government next passed on to a series of Acts giving relief to mortgagors before finally bringing m the National Mortgage Corporation, which was taking oyer the affairs or of the State Advances Office and much of tho work of the Land Department. All the Government lending Departments had been brought under one head and money would be loaned up to two-thirds of the value of the security, the interest rate being 4 per, cent with an additional 1) per cent, for sin ung fund. The speaker had favoured tho institution of tlio Mortgage Corporation, but had not been in accord with all the provisions of the Rural Mortgagors Final Adjustment Act, for unless something that was practical was introduced it would be doomed to failure. The Adjustment Commissions had already achieved a great deal of valuable work( and up to the end of February, in the 32,550 cases considered, an adjustment satisfactory to both parties had been effected in two-thirds. In most cases mortgagees were meeting the Court and writing down interest to 4 per cent, and lower. However, in setting up the Court of Review', the Government was doing something that was against all ideas of British justice. Men were being put to work their own farms under a trustee for five years at the end of which a- final adjustment would be made. This did not seem fair, and when the Government had entered the lobby to vote on the question lie had been one of five who had refused to go. The speaker then referred to the raising of the exchange rate, stating that it had brought into circulation an additional £10,000,000. He then mentioned that an amount equivalent to 12) per cent, had been paid out of the Highways Fund to help to reduce tho burden of rates due to eountj councils. In conclusion, Mr Burnett said that as ho went around his electorate he found that the Government had done its utmost to absorb the shock to primary producers. However, the piesent basis of land value was out of step with the prices for produce. In 1928 the county valuation amounted t0"£35L,000,000* yet last year it had dropped by only £19,500,000 in comparison with a reduction in the value of primary produce by 50 or 60 per cent. * Tho successful occupancy of New Zealand lands was tho solution of the position. In 1930 the Government had been faced with two alternatives,

the wholesale writing down of everything “with a heavy blue pencil” or the “shock-absorbing” tactics it had employed. It had gradually employed relief measures, but would have to face up to the major problem insetead of haggling and lie advocated action. Questions. The chairman invited questions and Mr A. E. Dobson said he had understood that under the Mortgage Corporation long term loans were to have been arranged. One and a-half per cent, seemed a lot for sinking fund. One could already secure loans from the State Advances for 36 years at less than that. Mr Burnett replied that the rate had not yet been definitely fixed. It might he 1 per cent. Mr H. Talbot asked what would lie the position if a mortgagor wanted a loan in excess of the amount that the Corporation had power to lend. He understood that at the most an advance of up to four-fifths of the security would be all that could be granted. Mr Burnett’s reply was that the board of directors had very wide powers, and could exceed that amount where the conditions warranted, their doing so. In fact, the security might even be made to extend to stock and chattels. In reply to Mr G. H. Mulligan, Mr Burnett said it was intended that the Corporation take over all the discharged soldiers’ settlement advances, as it was hoped to wind up the soldiers’ settlement scheme as soon as' possible. Mr J. O. J. Oliver asked who adjusted the farmer’s debts and put him 'on a budget. Mr Burnett explained the operations of the Adjustment Commissions and Court of Review. Personally, he felt it would be better if a ,winding-up of the farmer's affairs were made immediately instead of the employment of a trustee. After some discussion regarding the lifting of the embargo on livestock, Mr Dobson moved that the feeling of the meeting was that it should be lifted. He was not supported, and a motion favouring the retention, moved by Messrs Oliver and Mulligan, was carried.

In moving a vote of thanks to Mr Burnett, the chairman said lie thought that with all the legislation that liad been introduced it might still be necessary for the employment of “the thick blue pencil.”