Page 16 Advertisements Column 1

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19105, 14 September 1927, Page 16

AUCTIONS. H. MATSON A,ND 00. HM ATS 0 N and - CO., • STOCK AND GRAIN MERCHANTS, STOCK AND STATION AGENTS. LAND SALESMEN. EXTRACT FROM "LONDON TIMES," dated July 22nd, 1927, continued from yesterday's paper:— In Geneva, those expert# laid stress generally on technical improvements, by wiiich they meant the scientific organisation of production and stock breeding, a vigorous Scientific campaign against disease and •gainst pest, improved methods of norketing, and improved credits, and, in general, agriculturists were advised to look at regularity or stabilisation of prices rathe* than on speculation. The importance oi an adequate supply of credits ■was laid considerable stress upon, and Governments in all the countries were espec- . ially urged to assist in providing agricultural instruction and training, as well as th.i creation and development of credits. Now I believe, on the whole, that the conclusions they camo to wero sound. We must realise that the problem before us is economic, and not political. If you regard it as a political problem you will bo sidetracked in a dead-end. Englishmen are , famous the world through for their capacity for looking at the truth, an easy thing to do. I want us to try to look at the truth this afternoon. PLAUSIBLE REMEDIES. Certain, plausible suggestions have been put forward as alleviations of agriculture. Ono that has been put forward is licensing the importation of potatoes. Oil that, I would only say a word. We gave a strict pledge when we appealed to the country that we would not put any duties on food. The licensing of potatoes would be perilously near breaking that pledge, but, apart from that, potatoes are the one- import in ■which this country has very nearly a monopoly. v ln recent years the import of potatoes has not amounted to more than 4 per cent, of the total crop grown in Great Britain. _J* ORDER YOUR WOOLPACKS NOW. SEND FORWARD YOUR ORDERS NOW TO H. MATSON and CO. The import duty on malting barley deserves, I think, looking at more closely.. (Hear, hear.) I understand that the National Farmers' Union are not wholly in agreement as to whether this would bo a good thing or not. Agriculturists themselves, I know, differ in opinion, but I •want to point out to you what I do not think has been clearly pointed out to the public, and what I never realised myself until I started on an investigation with the intention of putting on such a duty—l want to point out what tho difficulties are. In • the first placo, you probably did not inow, and I did not know, that owing to the commercial treaties that we havo with foreign countries—and this applies to ovcry country with whom wo have a treaty containing a most-favoured-nation clause—we are prevented from imposing duties which ■would be collected inside the country at tho brewery or at tho malt house, unless w impose a corresponding excise duty which, of oours®, would do away with all the benefits proposed. We can only impose that duty at the port. It is obvious that at tho port you cannot tell from a sample of barley what that barley is going to bo used i for, and, therefore, it would be followed by the Customs officers all the wayj from the pert through the various _ channels through which it passed until it finally reached the malt house or the brewery. Until then you cannot prove whether it was dutiable, and, had the tax been collected at the port, whether or not ,a refund was necessary. Now you can see in a. moment that a process 80 complicated would put the whole grain trade into ahaokles. It Wbuld mean the keeping of very diffloult and complicated accounts. It would be necessary to be able to show the Customs officers the history of every parcel of barley that came into this country for malting purposes. . In practice ; the collection of this, duty, which looks flo Bjmple, would be completely and absolutely impracticable. Moreover, a duty on imported malting Tjarley, if it were practicable, would lead to a corresponding duty on the brewing substitutes.

"■ WJ3 Oan supply all station . REQUISITESWIRE NETTING-, STANDARDS, FENCING )VIRE, , of all Grades. H. MATSON and CO. AN IMPRACTICABLE SCHEME. ; The more you examine the aoheme the pore diifioult, the more impracticable, it appear* to be. And, however much we may ' desire to provide an easy or immediate solution of the manifold, difficulties which face . us, we have to face them, and' it is' better to acknowledge that it is beyond our power ' to find it. By that I mean a solution that •would oonvert. depression into prosperity. That i* no .more possible in agriculture than it is in coal or'ln steel or in many other industries. Other parties may ptomiee to do it. They cannot do it, and we have 1 tho honesty' to /say-so. We can do a great , deal to improve some of the conditions surrounding agriculture. We can make it easier for faimers to conduct their business, and we can claim, with reason ; I think, that •within the short time at our disposal- we ' have. done more than any other previous Government of which I am aware. (Cheers.), I see that ! am being attacked by some of the leaders of the National 'Farmers' TJcioii on the ground that the Government have : failed to carry out certain pledges which they gave at the general eleotion. _ In the first place I am accused of having failed to apply the procedure of the Safeguarding of Industries Act' to agriculture. If anyone will take the trouble to- refer to what • I said in my election address they .will find I. treated the question of, the safeguarding of industries solely in relation to the qubSr ORDER YOUR BRANDING r . VATFiTtTAL AND SHEEP DIPS FROM H. MATBON and CO. tion of unemployment. I was referring sole- . ly to urban industries, as must be clear anybody acquainted- with agricultural conditions, where it is prefootly known that whether that industry be prospering or not, to-day there » little or no unemployment in it. People who charge us with that may remember that we made a pledge to -do nothing in the way of protection of any article of food. The country refused* to x adopt any programme of that nature many years ago and in .1923.^ MR BALDWIN'S ELECTION ADDRESS. I am also accused of failing to live up to the following passage in my address, to which I certainly adhere; —'l regard it as Vital that tile great basis industry of agriculture should not be merely preserved, but restored to a more prosperous, condition as an' essential balanoing element in the economic and social life." . ■ My critics have quoted those words, but have left off there, instead of finishing the observation, whioh went on, "For a permanent solution' of the gricultural problem, a common agreement between all parties is desirable, and the Unionist Party, if re-' turned to power, will summon a representative conference in the hope of arriving at ' an agreed policy by which the arable acreage ..may be maintained and regular employment and adequate wages secured to the agricultural workers." , The moment we come into office we tried to call a conference. It became impossible because representatives of one side of the industry refused to take part in those proceedings. Those' words are-as true to-day as on the day I uttered them. Since that ' time the Sooiilist and Liberal Parties have insisted upon their policies of offioial control ofl cultivation; they will not budge from it, and, without common agreement be- ; tween political r parties, a permanent solution of the problem, if not impossible, will be extremely difficult. The difficulties of the Government and of the indußtty are not going to be relieved by the embitterment of controversy or by charges of bad faith which cannot be sub- : atantiated. (Cheers.) We have, dealt with every pledge, we ga7e at the General Election. They may have been insufficient, but •whatsoever they were, for this Parliament, we have- dealt with them. And I would add this: were it not for the policy pursued "by the Conservative Party, local rates, ) heavy as they are, would constitute a much heavier burden to-day on fanners than they _- do. (Cheers.)

CORNSACKS-WE CAN SUPPLY SAME, FORWARD TJS YOUR ORDER NOW. ...... H. MATSON and CO. The Rates Act of 1896 was passed by a Conservative Government. It reduced the assessment of agrionltural land for rating purposes to one-half its annual value. Four years ago we reduced the assessment to : cue-quarter. And the, basis of assessment *> theft arrived at was made permanent by this Government in an Act passed two years ago. The effect of this relief is that, , though rates on other property in rural | 'areas have increased fourfold since 1895, the ! rates sow paid'on agricultural land, taking thp country as a whole, are not much more . than they were in 1895, owing to the relief Under those Acts. j RATES ON BUILDINGS. ! I am speaking of agricultural land, and not buildings, but it is true rates payable on farm dwellings have increased, so have rat as on all properties in rural areas, but • farmers will shortly receive further relief on farm buildings as from the first reassessment under the Rating fcnd Valuation Act passed by this Government. In the year 1928 or 1929, according to the district, farm buildings will be fated the same as agricultural land—that is, one-quarter of their annual value. < •" (To be Continued.) YOU CANNOT GO WRONG BY FORWARDING YOUR SELLING FAVOURB JflO H. MATBON and CO., Christchurch. . Jmw „>•" ——