FARMING AND WAGES.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 195, 19 August 1927, Page 6

FARMING AND WAGES.

The facts and figures cited by Professor Belshaw in his address to the Chamber of Commerce yesterday throw an interesting light 011 the . present position of the farming industry in this country. There is no doubt that during the past few years, in spite of intermittent "spurts" in the selling prices of our primary products, the "man on the land" has had a hard struggle to make both ends meet; and the fundamental grounds for the depressed condition of our primary industries demand careful investigation. Within the past few months there baS been a strongly-marked tendency in certain quarters to attribute the difficulties against which all our industries, both primary and secondary, are struggling largely to an unduly high wage-level; and it is with this aspect of the problem that Professor Belshaw is chiefly concerned. Without attempting to follow the elaborate statistical analysis by which Professor Belshaw supported his arguments, Ave may refer briefly to his conclusions. He holds that neither the increased cost of production, nor thl rise in wages, nor the failure of wages to fall with the fall in prices, can account for the relatively small average net returils secured by the farmer during the post-war period. The outstanding factors that must be taken chiefly into account are the inflated prices at which much rural land has changed hands since the war, aiid the heavy interest charges due to mortgagees. As these are the primary causes 6f the agricultural and pastoral depression, those who tlemand a reduction in wages as a cure for "bad times" in the primary industries are losing sight of the real question at issue. Unless and-Until effective means can be devised to counteract "the over-valuation and over-mortgaging of land," the farmei; can expect little relief, and even those who arc inclined to dissent from Professor Belshaw's views will find his figures and his conclusions hard to criticise or to controvert.