WHEAT GROWING.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18182, 19 September 1924, Page 11

WHEAT GROWING.

to' tbi mrroß cy "the pums. Si r ,—ln Saturday's issue of your paper sqmeono writes wanting to know why farmers do not grow more wheat. Tho reason is a .very simple one, namely, ifc docs not pay to grow wheat at the present price. Labour, assisted by the Arbitration Court, has completely killed grain growing m' this J/oimnion, an rt is quite, turns the Court, thought a littlo instead, of listening to a .lot -or uonsenso put before it (>y the La be 'agitators. Every Labour member appears'to. be against.tho farmers, and they don't, seeiu to realise the iaci that grain-growing should bo encouraged oy .©very possible means, instead ol" iarrner.3 being hampered in all sorts of wajs. Labour at'present costs ICO per. cent, more' than it did some years ago, and the men do 50 per cent.'less work, which is the crux of the whole matter. I could give figures to prove my statements, but don't wish to make my letter too, long. .Stated briefly, it now eo6ts 6s per bushel to grow wheat in place of 8s (3d some years back, and of course this last season . about., 8s would be nearer the cost, the yield having been rery low on account of drought. ' Farmers would be extremely foolish, to say the .least of it, to grow wheat when* the cost of production is considerably more than the selling price. If wheat-growing is such a money-making proposition, why don't ■ some of 'the Ijabour agitators come out into the country and make their fortunes quickly 1 The 1 farmers of Canterbury are right up against it at the present time, and unless this season proves a good one', hundreds of them will be completely ruined. In conclusion, I m ust say this: If tie Arbitration Court makes any more' blunders liko the Threshing Award, this Dominion will have , to import all its wheat.—Yours, WTTEATGKOTTER. September loth,. 1924. TO THE EDITOE OT "THE KvESS." Sir,—Mr J. D. Hall is reported to have stated at the Port Railway demonstration, in Christchurcb on Monday that "tho farmer gets not quite one penny" out of the eleven penny loaf, tho infere'neo being thai t-lic secondary industries connected with its manufacture and distribution absorb over tenpence. I fail to follow this calculation, as according to the wheai statistics ior last season recently published, the average yield throughout the Dominion was about 2o bushels per acre, which at Government prices and Arbitration Court-rate of wages, must havo shown an average loss to the grower of betweeir £2- and £3 per acre. The unfortunate .farmer, instead of receiving a fractional part of a penny per -lib loaf, has therefor© had to bear the loss in reducing its selling price to. the general public, but has received verv little credit for bia^public-spirited action. Ifc is now a well-known fact that fanners during the disastrous period of Government control of prices received only about-half - the values current ander like conditions in other wheatgrowing countries, while tho secondary industries concerned in its conversion into bread . derived benefits which re-

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fleeted little credit upon, tho business acumen of the Government or its officials, who- permitted such a. state of affairs to continue. It is little wonder that wheat-growing under Government control has become unpopular and. is likely to remain so while the Arbitra<i tion Act, imposes food conditions which ino farmer's'wife can struggle under—- ! as five meals per diem involve about 20 ; hours .work, out of the 21.—Yours, etc., FARMER. September 17th, 192-1. j