MAIZE AND THE DUTY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 221, 19 September 1927, Page 4

MAIZE AND THE DUTY.

HAS INJUSTICE BEEN DONE?

GROWERB COMPLAIN.

SOUTH AFRICAN CHEAP LABOUR

, Why should the Canterbury farmer be protected in his efforts to secure a high price for his wheat while his colleague at Rangitaiki has to ftute the world with a miserable concession from the Tariff Commission of 1/ per cental?

This is the question which will have to be answered and answered satis fMtonly before the proposed tariff reguatloM btcoine law. The position is that the wheat growers, backed up by Canterbury millers and merchants, have bombarded the Government in season and out of season so successfully that a duty based on a sliding scale has been fixed, which gives the southern farmer a price that is approximately close to his avowed objective—six shillings per bushel, delivered at ft country station. With this incentive it is understood that the grower will do nis best to raise the wheat necessary for bread # and for fowl food for the Dominion.

The protection increases the price of every loaf of bread consumed in the Dominion and makes it very difficult for poultry keepers to maintain the counB eggs, to say nothing of their efforts to cultivate an export trade. This presses particularly hard upon Auckland poultry feeders, who have to pay sea freight from the south, and who, but for that duty, could usually get fairly cheap wheat from Australia. This, then, is the position with regard to wheat. Now for maize. This is purely a North Island product, being grown exclusively in the Bay of Plenty and Poverty Bay districts. At the present time the grower is receiving 5/6 per bushel, less merchant's commission, delivered on the Auckland wharf. In comparison with the Canterbury merchant, who is to get about fl/ per bushel at a country station for his 601b of wheat, the maize grower should get for his 561b bushel 5/7. South African maize can be landed here under the reduced duty at 5/2 per bushel, and it is argued that the Rangitaiki farmer is in danger of having his livelihood interfered with by the coolie labour of South Africa. Hence the protest.

To pot the position in a nutshell, the farmer points out that under the existing duty of 2/ per cental he is supplying maize to Auckland poultry feeders cheaper than the price at which they can buy wheat. Moreover, he emphasises that his is clean wholesome grain, free from infection of the weevil, which plays havoc with every warehouse or shop to which it Rains admission. This, by the way, is a reference to the fact that shipments of maise from South Africa and also from Java often arrive infected with this beastly pest.

The Olhsr Sltfe. To the position set forth above an Auckland merchant advanced another viewpoint, but he admitted at the outset that a protection had been given to Canterbury wheat growers which contained an injustice to poultry feeders and was certainly not justified. If such industries as those of poultry keeping and pig raising were to be carried out profitably, the breeders must have a supply of cheap food. In this connection he quoted facts to justify the proposed new tariff. Firstly, he pointed out that the duty on South African maize had, until about a year ago, been only 6d per cental, so that at 1/ it would still be double the rate that had existed for some years. The tariff of 2/ had only been in force about twelve months. He claimed that the maize grower would, under the new proposal, have adequate protection. , He stated that the cost of producing maize, including manuring and markeing, to the Auckland wharf did not exceed £12 per acre. This included interest on £33-per-acre land. On a 60-bushel crop this gave a cost of production of 4/ per bushel. No outside competition could make this branch of farming unprofitable. He pointed out that the cost of maize on the Auckland wharf in December had been as follows: 1»24, 6/3; 1925, 6/9; 1926, «/9 to 7/. The fanners had, over a term of yean, failed to meet tile necessity for maize for pigs and poultry, and as the grain was necessary imports had to be relied upon, and the price must be kept at a reasonable level. The present rate of 0/6 per bushel wss the lowest that had Tuled for yeaTs, and was the result of large crops in the Bay districts. But it wss still too soon to say that enough had been grown for the Dominion's requireAs to the weevil bogy, he dismissed that as of little consequence, stating that the pest was easily exterminated by chemical treatment.