THE PRICE OF WHEAT.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 15776, 18 December 1916, Page 9

THE PRICE OF WHEAT.

• i to Tin: ::i>itok oi "tue riiEss." j <^ir, —Alter reading Mr Isitt's letter and your sub-leader thereon. I feel unable to nvUt the temptation of writing a few lines, from the farmers' point of vie?", on the great wheat question and tho late conference, and while feeling that you are both somewhat hard on the farmer. I cannot help agreeing with voff that it is undoubtedly a fact that at many of these functions the representatives prcj.cnt do not by any means • rightly express tho wishes of those they j represent, ami I feel sure this has to a certain extent been so with ic.-peet to I the meat and wheat conferences. I With resjx'Ct to the meat, i feel con- ! iideut a vc, y la rue ma jority of the j frcovvcrs were more than satisfieJ with tho price the Imperial Government was paying, though at the same time, feeling that the price -was le.-s than -New Zealand iv,i 3 entitled to. This they did i not mind, teeing that the meat Mas being taken for our brave boy.s at the (front. The objection was that the sur- ' plus meat not required by tilts Government was being taken over by speculators, some of whom many oi us think we have reason to be ashamed of. [n.«tead of stopping this going oil. Now Zealand growers are given an increased price, and as far ;i--> wp know there is nothing to prevent the same thing going on stili. The trouble in connexion ' with the wheat growjing has boon very = largely brought about bv th ( > uncalled- i for interference oi our own Govern- I ment. for when war was declared the i Eight Hon. W. Mas.;i\v very i rightly asked the people through- ! out, the Dominion to grow all ; tho wheat they could, and in j response to thi.s reqiic-t. many dui re- j gardlcss of profit, make consider- j able self-saeriJice. feeling a strong ' desire to do something to help ; in su:-h serious time-, and in a ' way felt they were trying to do their 1 bit. Towards the end of the lo'iowiug ; harvest, when the majority of (armors : had disposed of their i ron, the same j hon. gentleman appeared on the scene, I and proclaimed a great shortage r>f I wheat, which was not the rjue. The ! result was the farmers who had not. ! sold, together with the millers and 1 speculators, bumped wheat- up to an j unnecessarily ,'ictiiioiis price, and bread j not only became cruelly dear to the j general consumer, but a lot oi' money was lost. In the meantime tho farmers had sown another crop, and unfortunately met- a really bad dry season, so much so that many thousands of acres ' wore grazed off, and unless, in some of | the most favoured districts, what was 1 left to reap did not promise one third j of an ordinary crop. Again, just as tfie poor disappointed farmer was ready to i sell his poor yield of wheat, the same gentleman appears on the scene, takes a. flying motor drive through the country. and proclaims abundance of wneat, which was again wrong, and this backed up by statistics which will always remain a mystery. Down went the price nearly a shilling a bushel, and naturally up went the indignation of the farmer at what seemed most unfair interference hy those in authority. I think, .Sir, the duty of any Government to the whole community is to assist the producer, who'after all is the backbone 'jf the country, to place anything he ; can grow in the way of foodstuffs > as cheaply as possible upon the mar- j kot, winch means so much, especi- ! ally to large families, as well as every individual in the Dominion. Going back to the conference, personally, I do not think the fixing of '<uiy price will materially affect the area 1 sown in wheat, for in New Zealand we hare, no great extent of suitable land for that purpose, and those farmers who have will always have more faith in the old and sure promise "That -while tho earth romuinetli, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter and day, and night shall not c?n£e," n,ther than in any inducement the Government can offer, and will, 1 think, continue tjo grow wheat" as a rotation crop where they can afford and it suits them to do so. Probably . the genera! consumer of bread has little idea what a soil-robber wheat is, and as such can only be grown with success :;s an occasional crop, aud when people generally estimate the profits on a good crop of wheat, rarely have the slightest idea of cither whut is taken from that land or the thought and time expended by the farmer to bring the land into a proper condition to produce that crop. Grain-growing, especially, is ho different to any other walk of life, for it not only means faith backed up by the host tillage man can put into the soil, but it means long, rnxious days, and often nights, to harvest tho crop, seeing that our •climate if! so erratic, and then we arc now faced "with the possibility of so many men weeustomed to farm work being called away to the front, raises a Tery big question, as to how far the production of the land is to bo handicapped. For after all is said and done, food is going to be iv great factor in -winning the war. It is all very well for Mr Isitt to persuade the young fellow he mentions in the office to enlist, with tho comfortable, cosy billet, but he is doing nothing probably to produce food of any description, and can be spared, and I say all honour to him and the many _ thousands of his blass who arc fighting nobly at tho front for those who arc just as -willing as they, but unable for various reasons, much to their own sorrow, to join tho

noble fellows whp have gone. How different the, position of many a young fellow upon the land, who would practically give his head to go. But there he is in the midst of the stock which ho has spent years in breeding, ajid has probably carefully worked out the tillage of his farm. The question is, in what way can be do the best as his sh:.rc in winning tho great victory ahead oi us? While I would not attempt to excuse wholesalo shirkers among all classes of the community (including the farmers), I think we should not l>e too ready to condemn all as graspers who cannot sec their way to go. however much they may wish to do, r.nd wil! some day probably bo asked the question by their own children: "What did you do. Daddy, in the big war?"' Now that we have a Board of Trade, I hope it will wake up to the fact that almost everything is getting tremendously dear throughout the Dominion, and it looks in many cases as if great exploitation ws»s going on. Vet 1 hope nothing will be done to cheapen the price of food at the expanse (.if its neighbour, as I fear has been done to the poor dairyman with h's bardworked family, and if the Board will only get into closer touch with the genuine farmer, and other producers of food, I am sure it will find the majority most loyal, willing, and anxious to do all in their power to assist, even if tiiev cannot get away to the front, m the great struggle ahead of us.—Yours, etc.. HEXTIY OVERTON. TO THE EDITOR OF "iHE PRESS." Sir, —This is a great food and woolproducing country, aud we on the land should, therefore, be free from all legislative obstruction in that direction, j V* c do not ask for much, only that our farm labour should bo free trom conseription. It is our duty to assist to feed and clothe the Empire's army, its civil population, including our own. To carry out this programme with tho best result, we must be left our farm j labour. Mr Alassey's slogan, "Grow wheat, wheat, and more wheat," and '•jCvery man and every shilling,'' is illogical nonsense. If we send every j man and every shilling, who then would be left to grow and harvest the wheat? The farmers responded to Mr Massey's appeal by sowing last season threefifths of "the area, sown tho previous year. There has been a serious increase in tho cost, of living, but that increase would be greater if the primary producer had an open market. In Great Britain, all forms of agricultural labour is exempt from conscription, and so, too, should it be here. By all means increase our war tax profits, even to the extent of 100 per cent., if necessary; but don't prevent us creating and developing wealth. What is technically known as the working-class, seems largely imbued with the idea that conscription of wealth not obtain here. It does. No special war taxation has been levied on the working-class, but ou the other hand, wealth has been heavily taxed, and doubtless there is more to follow, winch to all intents and purposes is conscription of wealth. Then, too, the Avar bonuses given by the Government, local bodies, and largely by private employers, must have a palliating effect upon the increased cost of living. Don't let the farmer haggle for the utmost penny; don't let the "workei grumble because he has to slightly reduce his standard of living. Let us all think of Belgium, and the other lands under the heel of tho Hun, and thank Providence that our sufferings in the wnv of increased taxation and cost of livitirr are as naught.—Yours, etc. A. W. RUTHERFORD. TO THE EDITOR OP "THE PRESS." Sir, —As is only right the recommen-. datious of the wheat conferenco are I beui" submitted to criticism in your issue" of to-day. Mr Isitt is endeavouring to state the ease fairly from his point"of view, and ail honour to him. iie quotes instances of wheat-growers assorting that wheat can be grown now at JS <id, and as n farmer 1 WSd say emphatically that is correct under certain conditions and quality of soil. But against that, on tho greater portion of light lands, 7s would not pay so well. On close examination the greed of the farmer is not quite eo real 35 Mr Isitt supposes it to be. The excess profits tax is 45 per cent, of the 6s 3d, if the farmer makes an excess pro- I fit; and if he does not, then, surely, the price is not too great. I had an j experience in wheat-growing last year, when the frost took every grain in ono paddock, and not a sheaf was threshed; j and ithat was a common experience in this district. There is room to believe j the same has happened again. Sir, j we must have wheat and other crops, I and to get them some inducement must be offered. There is such, a fcchng; of uncertain tv now, which must bo accentuated as time goes on, that a farmer scarcely dares to move for a year ahead, not knowing whether he or even his man will bo here to harvest next vcar's crops. Somo organisation must tako place, and the loca] bodies should be called upon to help to the best of their ability. Farmers ghould be called upon to guarantee crops needed, not at excess prices, and in return should reccivo somo reasonable guarantee that they shall be able to harvest their crops. Near the cities tho labour question may not bo felt, but further hack farmers are talking of selling teams, and that should not bo allowed. As to tho want of. sacrifico on the part of farmers which Mr Isitt complains of, there is room to think-; that they aro not- being set a very nno i example by tho heads of the .house. There aro "times when even the bom- . bastic must blush when they read the cablegrams. Sir, thcro is still a sense of proportion, though there is room at times to- doubt it.—Yours, etc T. E. L. ROBERTS. Scargill, December 16th. TO THE EDITOR OF "THE TRESS." Sir —A largo tramp steamer was onco nailed by a little pleasure launcn outside JSew lork as to who ttiey were. Tne repiy came, per megapnone, in stentorian tones: "The Great Mogul, 117 days out." Then tho reply query and answer in a squeak, "■only tnc Mary Ann, 1£ hours out." So I am only the -Mary Ann to have tho audacity to reply to "The Great Mogul," in the shape of Mr L. M. Isitt, ivl.i'. Mr Isitt has essentially "missed tho bus" in regard to the wheat conference, as he must not forget that the gentlemen present at that conference do not wear their patriotism on sleeves, and also bccauso hard-headed, business men do not show it, in his own peculiar way, he mu6t not think they are unpatriotic. Now, regarding tho vexed question of wheat-produc-tion. Farmers seven or eight years ago began to decrease their areas of wheat in perfcrence to meat and woolproduction, and have continued to do so since, because they found they had an ever so much better proposition in that they did not have to contend so much with weather conditions, not 60 much hard slogging work, and the essential labour was more easily obtainable —above all a better bank balance. By that I do not mean cash in hand altogether, as a farmers bank or capital is, or should be, the fertility of his land. It is a difficult chemical problem, but as near as I can estimate, one bushel of wheat with straw represents about 2s 4d in chemical manures, so that a thirty bushel crop represents 111 manurial equivalent £3 10s per acre. Add to this the cost of growing Iplougning to delivery) £6 per acre, which is a long way underestimated with P res ®?'' conditions. Even on the sacks the farmer loses Id to ljd each, andit will be 6een, that at 6s 3d per the grower actually loses Id per. busnei, or, in other words, he is s lT l n ß stored-up wealth of- his land to h is country. Compare this to sheep-raisuig, and it will be at once noted that unless every encouragement is g iven ' farmers will continue to grow meat and wool, which, after all, is also csscn lal

to our Army and Navy. In Australia, a farmer could produce wheat in prewar times at a profit at- 2s Pd per bushel, and yet to-<iav they are getting os 6d per bushel. "Wheat here war times ranged in price from 3s to 7s per busht-l, and cost about 4s; 3d to produce, eo, without a doubt, the war lias only hurried on trouble that essentially would hare come through cost of production a-gainst- profits of meat, ctc. Of course, there will always be a certain amount of wheat grown by tho small farmer for the straw for wintering purposes, but this amount is nothing compared to requirements. It is the big wheat tracts that tell in wie final totals, and the men in control oi these tracts understand their business much more now than the people did ten or twenty years ago. They have to, in that thry xvcigh the pros and cons for wheat and sheep, and decide lor sheep. Probably one of the most prolific districts in New Zealand is J'Jlesmere, and from personal knowledge can safely affirm that farmers last year did, and this year will, drop lieauiy on every acre of wheat thry grow, whereas their meat dabblings have been profitable in every ca^e. Now, in verv honesty, is it reasonable to expect a man. to choose a branch of industry which he knows full well is not so profitable as another branch which can be parried on under the same conditions ? 11 is not a case ol sacrifice or patriotism at all. >ow that the price has been fixed, if sufficient labour is exempted from military service abroad (and farmers are given to understand this as soon as possible) to cope with tho acreage of wheat required, without a. doubt sufficient would be grown for requirements, as farmers will then know exactly their position. Regarding these exemptions, an idea seems to be prevailing that sufficient unfit men will be here to carryon production. This is absurd, as 110 unfit mnu can do a day s solkl stookintr, forking, either in field or on dray, pitching from stack to combine, carryiiiff bags, driving engine, or handling sacks to delivery. Add to this number the working overseer, farmer or manager (send the drones), and give exemption to a sufficient number and trouble will no doubt be overcome: Yours, etc., „