THE FARMER'S POSITION.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 108, 10 May 1927, Page 6

THE FARMER'S POSITION.

NEITHER WAGES NOR INTEREST. (To the Editor.) Mr. Hall Skelton's tirade against mort«»~, and Reform is not a reply to mv sf* Although the heading "Living On not mine, if Mr. Skelton will &SL ??» Poison's published figures, he will findT o S ™ S w rf 1 "/- T ° 6UpP ° se that Mr PSS meant that farmers are livin« on "««*;♦- mortgages" is just ridiculous. ° MortwSSl" lann debits not assets-though the realm,!? gages, not the "fictitious," are the burden. Poison showed that farming is not earniT" wages or interest. It must be therefmSF living on capital, which implies overdraft. Possibly many ''fictitiously gages on properties held by men of straw «£ being dropped, and replaced by real morteaw. on valuable properties. As to "elemental economics," the trouble with a lot of «S political economists is that they are much t*» elementary and try to explain all phenomena by a pet rule or two. Water sprinsrinff frm» a hill top is explainable, but not the law of gravitation. Mr. Skelton should not allow a political obsession to blind him to an opponent's arguments. The statement* that when acreage and alteration in monevvalues are taken into computation, rural land* are less heavily burdened than in prewar years, and that, whether judged by countvunimproved valuation or by that of annnaf mortgages (largely records of sales) the average value of rural lands has also aro not statements to brush aside. Their require dealing with. All increase in value, duo to Government, county or individual effort is thrown in, though county improve* ment is paid for in rates. Facts and figure* aro up against Mr. Skelton at every tnrnj Common sense, arithmetic and economics cannot be at variance—moreover, the leadinp economists of the Dominion agree withtha writer and not with Mr. Skelton. When all monetary tables have been reduced to pre-war-values, the average acre is found to be producing more, is worth less, is less heavily mortgaged, whilst the direct producer is practically bankrupt. Mr. Skelton's remedy i* a land tax—apparently on the principle that if a certain voltage kills, ten times the voltas* will bestow immortality. Explanations k» due from Mr. Skelton not from me. If ft will help your correspondent out of his tangle, I point out that an increase of fifty per cent in interest rate is equivalent to fifty per cent addition to the gross total of mortgages. Alsot legislatively arranged overpayments 0 to assist tant-producers of our produce, sold overseas-* whether to bankers or labourers—necessaruV' entail underpayments to direct producer*. Incidentally, L.I.P. men are just as hard hit as those under OJS.P. tenuro. , A. E. ROBIXSON, Provincial Secretary, N.Z.F.U. (AucJdandf