NEW OWNERS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 58, Issue 220, 29 June 1938, Page 2

NEW OWNERS

FARM LANDS IN MANAWATU. NEED POIR SOLID SECURTIY. (Per Press Association.« PALMERSTON N., June 28. Probably more farms have changed hands in this district in the last six months than in the previous two years, said a man whose calling places him in close contact with such matters, when interviewed. While the farms are in the main dairy farms, quite a number devoted to the carrying of sheep have also found new owners. To some extent this has been brought about by a section of investors, who have been rather anxious to invest their funds in freehold land than in Government securities and industrial shares. They are of the opinion that in doing so they have real value as security. Also quite a lot of people have been going out of dairying on account of the scarcity of labour, which has been almost impossible to obtain. These people have thus been forced out of dairying by circumstances over which they have no control. The level of values of live-stock is considerably .lower than at this period last year, this being brought about in the main by a feeling of insecurity in regard to tlio state of the markets for primary products in the forthcoming year. This insecurity has been amplified in so far as the sheep industry is concerned by the recent outbreak of facial eczema in the Waikato, where losses on that account have been much heavier than reported through the newspapers. Up to the present confidence has not been established to a degree sufficient to warrant restocking in quite a large area in the north. As soon as confidence is established, the markets should show a firming tendency.