SECOND EDITION.

Bush Advocate, Volume XXI, Issue 97, 22 October 1908, Page 5

SECOND EDITION.

KOW THE FARMER !S HELPED. X • <i! •■ .]' lii tlid course of his- speech at Pal-; 'nierston : on Monday, evening,,. S?rj jTosepHi Ward said: -'• - • 3 j r> "Mr Massey is reported. toihavelsald tliat thousand!* of articles fornusiei inj the mining and agricultural indus|vies were:jtaxed;.;aiid which, .|nil||lasti were perfectly free. l" .■''can;' hardly believe it possibly for,, s^hia, statement to have been made, b^t ; f r c must,*;aecept it las^t^is; xepoirteij ; |nd I will- p^tXon record, Syhat the position is- Tespecting' the ■ ■ agriotil--; tural branch:.;, i 7 lt is not nepessary; io make any" reference regarding ttoe : mining industry," hay« been -ho complaints whatever made, to- the'; jpovernment in this respect- ■* ":.■• 4 i I The statement made that the far-1 ; mer is not helped' under our' Customs; tariff was absolutely contrary .-.to fact. Agricultural machines ' anct "agriciiltural implementa; also parts peculiar Jo the manufacture or repair of agricultural machines and implementsj includihg chaff-cutting, knives, fittings :for threshing-mills, forgings or eastings for : x>loughs, • discs for harrows, •plough shares, mould board plates, and steel share plates cut to pattern, skeith knives^ tilt rakes, reaper knife sections or fingers,' finished brass or. steel springs, are free. Other articles on the free list were : Bailing presses, crushing and shelling machines, bailey awners, corn .shellers, ohaffcutters, eattle-dehornersi calf -branding, jnachin'es, clover seed drawer, also dresser combine, drills, machines for Ahat-cli making, , ear pliers for " earrmarking sheep, "poison distributing' "machines, fanning :' mills, ,post-liol« auger, flax hacklers, post-hole di§-. gers, flax knives, potato hooks, fruit grading machines, planet junior of similar- implements - by. . any "maker, gorse . masticators, ' ' sHeari, pruning, and hedge knives, grain screens, rakes, grass seed strippers, 'reapers and binders, grubbers of all kinds, rollers Cambridge, and land; ploughs of all kinds, root pulping machines, harrows > seed sowers, hay and straw presses, sheep - shearing machines, hay'. knives^ spades,' shovels, forks,, scythes, sheep shears and -reaping, hooks, seed and. grain cleaners, hoes Dutch and comnion, hoe and rake combined^ stump extractors, cleaners,: machines foT fencing, threshing mar chines, and combined threshing machines, machines for linseed -threshill, turhiprcutting machines.. ■'.. . Articles 'other : than machinery and implements specially suited for agricultural use — free," were : Bluestone, cornsacks, fencing staples, fencing wire plain and barbed, horse and cattle drenches, sheep dip, sheep drenches, and sheep licks, manures, sporting powder and blasting powder, scrub exterminator, insecticides and i'tfee washes, wire netting, and expanded metal lathing and fencing, binder 7 twine, trace and plough chains. .- The 'following are the rates of duty on items imported which protect the -agricultural industry: Cattle 10s each, horses £1 each, bacon and hams ■■2dUhe lb, chaff £1, a ton, eggs 20 per cent, and foreign 10 per cent, extra, ap.pl.es, pears,, plums, cherries, peaches, nectarines, medlars, apricots, quinces, tomatoes and grapes, Id. the lb; apples and pears from 14th July to 31st December, £d the lb; currants, Taspberries, gooseberries, backberries, strawberries-,, and lemons, £d the lb ; fruits, dried, 2d the lb ; fruits preserved in juice or syrup, 25 per cent, if British and 12| extra if foreign; fruit, pulp, partially preserved fruit, fruit preserved by sulphurous acid, unsweetened, l£d the lb ; grain, namely barley 2s per 1001 b, grain and pulse of every kind, 9d per 1001 b; grain and pulse "of every kind when ground or in any way manufactured, including wheat flour, Is per 100, and if foreign 2d extra; hops, 6d per lb, and if foreign 3d per lb extra; lard and! refined animal I fats, 20 per cent., and if foreign 10 per cent, extra; malt, 2s bushel; onions, £1 a ton ; pearl barley, Is the cwt; peas, split, 2s the cwt; potatoes, £1 a ton; prepared calf meal, 25s a ton; vegetables, 20 per cent., . and if foreign 10 per cent, extra. So that we not only place everything that the agriculturist can reasonably ask on the free list, but we protect their industry from outside competition! to an enormous extent. Our opponents would have you believe that we do not help the agricultural Industries, whereas the facts on record give the most absolute contradiction to these, unwarrantable statements. (Loud applause.) REDUCTIONS TO FARMERS. Let is consider the extent of the reductions made in respect to some of the principal classes of traffic that affect the farming community, and compare the rates ruling In. 1890 with the reductions made during the financial year of 1900, or since that time. For 100 miles the rate for wool in 1890 was 7s 5d per bale, to-day it is 5s 7d. A ton of grain cost 11s 7d, to-day it is 9s 8d ; a' ton of coal cost 10s 2d, to-day it is 7s 4d. Butter in 10 cwt lots cost 26s 6d, to-day it is 14s 6d ; cheese in 1 ton lots cost 26s 6d, to-day it is 14s 6d. Artificial manures which in 1890 cost 13s per ton in 4 ton lots, and 26s 6d per ton in .small lots is to-day carried in 5. cwt lots, at 9s 8d per ton, and the farmers are allowed to combin© to make tip truck loads in all cases where they may desire to do so. Lime for manuring farm lands which cost 7s lid in 1890 for a distance of 100 miles is to-day carried free, and the Government has, in the interests of farmers and pastoralists, fixed a price at which the lime merchants shall sell the lime, free on board the railway trucks before the concession for free ' carriage can be claimed. The farI mer is thus saved. from the exploita- ! tions of the middlemen or the limei burner, who may desire to charge an I exorbitant price for lime for manuring farm lands. For 150 miles the lime rate for farmers was, in 1890, 10s per ton, to-day it is 3s lid; for 250 miles the charge was 14s 2d in 1890, to-day it is Bs, ld.