The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. MONDAY, MARCH 7, 1932. THE FARMER'S POSITION.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 56, 7 March 1932, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun.

MONDAY, MARCH 7, 1932. THE FARMER'S POSITION.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

During the. past few clays there have been issued a number of reports bearing on the farmer's position —the findings of the Economic Committee, the latest bulletin from the Canterbury College Department of Economics, the Monthly Abstract of Statistics, and the annual statistical report on production. In these the now all too familiar story of the difficulties imposed on the farmer by the fact that prices have fallen much lower than costs, is repeated, but some of the figures are well worth fresh consideration. If prices in 1914 are taken as a base and represented by 1000, the farm expenditure index is now 1490 (almost the same as the retail price index), but the export price index is 574. This brief statement tells an eloquent story. The Canterbury calculation takes 1909-13 as the base, and includes volume of exports. This introduces the factor of increased productivity as a set-off against lower prices. Export prices have fallen from 1000 to 968; but volume has increased from 1000 to 1746. If we turn to the statistics of holdings we find that in 1911, the latest pre-war year for which figures are given, the number of holdings was 73,876 and the acreage 42,709,000. In 1930-31 the number of holdings was 83,816, and the acreage 43,239,000. That is to say, productivity has increased in far greater proportion than the number of holdings or the total acreage, which means that a great many farms are producing more than they did years ago. The owners of these farms have something to compensate them for the fall in prices. It is true that this applies to dairying much more than to sheep farming, but it is an important factor.

The Canterbury bulletin is not very cheerful about the future. There appears to be little ground for expecting a revival of world confidence in the near future, and accordingly New Zealand must face the unpopular alternative of reducing costs. This is sound advice, and the community must be persuaded to take .it. At the same time there is no reason for anything approaching despair in a country so well favoured as this, with an export trade of thirty-five millions. But we depend upon the buying power and good will of Britain, and the people of Britain are not only determined to set their house in order; they are willing to go a long way in encouraging inter-Empire trade. Last year the proportion of our exports that went to Britain was as high as 88 per cent. This surely should be borne in mind when the question of exchange is discussed. What would our best customer say if we thus raised our tariff against him?