NEW COMPETITOR.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 4, 5 January 1934, Page 3

NEW COMPETITOR.

DAIRY PRODUCE.

SOUTH AMERICA'S ADVANCE.

WHAT NEW ZEALAND CAN DO.

" A forecast of the entry of Soutl : American lamb and dairy produce intc ' the markets of the world and a warn ! ing to New Zealand producers to con ' centrate upon producing goods of onlj i the highest quality are contained in i letter received in Christchurcli from f i New Zealand farmer who for the last ■ four years has been living in the agri- , cultural districts of South America • states the Christehurch "Press." He ' regards the danger of South Americar . competition with the Dominion's chief primary products as inevitable and adds that New Zealand's only hope of sue,l cessfully defeating this competition lies (in the shiftless Latin-American temperaI ment. This, he says, gives New Zealand an advantage in the matter of quality— an advantage which must be made the most of. "Of recent years there has not been wanting a volume of complaint from both English and New Zealand authorities about the decline in quality of many of the Dominion's primary products," says tho writer. "That many so complaining have had an axe to grind or have laid the blame at the wrong door may also be admitted without affecting greatly one side of the position which must be faced. The number and variety of the protests about the decline in quality of New Zealand butter, cheese, and, above all, lamb, make it difficult to believe that all is well with these products." The writer continues thot an already sufficiently deplorable state of affairs has been aggravated by an attempt in some quarters to justify the production of a low-grade article by arguments about increased returns and the willingness of the market to absorb unlimited quantities of low-grade produce. "I doubt whether even the most obdurate would retain his conviction of the wisdom of low-grade production in the face of a close acquaintanceship with the present state and trend of South American agriculture," he says. South America's Advantages. "Tho country might be described as a giant of agriculture only now waking from its sleep. This is important, since it means that the absence of competition in the past is no guarantee as to the future. Enormous areas of high natural fertility and with an advantageous climate are only to-day witnessing the first attempts at the type of farming to which they are properly suited. Only now is the mechanisation of agriculture coming into its own. The old women who have milked the cows and bound the corn for generations now listen —with considerable misgiving —to agents for dairy machinery, header harvesters, and tractors. The stud stock breeders of dairy cattle or Down sheep (mostly Hampshire, as yet) record increased inquiries for pedigree stock. In short, American and British capital is at last having its say in shaking off the grip o£ Bibical methods which have strangled primary production for years. "The process of modernisation is only beginning. The natural resources of the country set virtually no limit in area or in soil fertility or in climate. Fertilisers and minerals are available in quantity and variety, and in Chile, alone in the southern hemisphere, is the potential waterpower available for generating electricity greater than that in New Zealand. Land has not been 'boomed' and is still available at a price which is payable. Last, but not least, the standard of living is so low as to be almost primitive, so that wages — gratuities might be a better word in many cases—are on the lowest conceivable scale. Freight to England, too, is a lower charge, so that the production costs of primary produce are a fraction of those for the same produce in New Zealand. The Problem of Quality. "But if the New Zealand farmer has to bow to his South American competitor where cheap production is concerned, this state of affairs is completely reversed when an article of quality is lemanded. Whatever his resources may be —and they give him wonderful advantages—one consoling and important fact remains in the temperament of the South American farmer himself. This is his 3asy-going and nonchalant nature—the fact that he is, above all, a LatinAmerican. Foreign capital has shaken the country out of its state of somnolence, has introduced thousands. of pounds' worth of the world's best stud itock, and is now engaged in mechanising igriculture, but the biggest opposition ;o this march along the road of progress ; is provided by the people of the I ■ sountry." I ,