HELPING THE FARMER

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21623, 6 November 1935, Page 17

HELPING THE FARMER

TO THE EDITOR OP TOE PRESS. Sir,—l think that discerning persons who are prepared to look economic conditions squarely in the face will admit that the chief plank in the platforms of all political parties is the solution for maintaining the prices of primary produce. New Zealand, like all other agricultural exporting countries, is dependent upon world parity prices. But it must not be forgotten that New Zealand stands on an entirely different footing from many other countries that sell primary produce in the markets of the United Kingdom. xnis dissimilarity arises, of course, by reason of the fact that New Zealand must compete with countries that are afforded a wider margin of profit on account of reduced production and transport costs. There is also one competitor country—Russia—that has, at times, not even concerned itself with the profit margin. In considering the problem, one must not lose sight of the fact that reduction in productive costs is a large factor per se in fixing v/orld parity prices. There are efficient wool growers and frozen-meat exporters in Paraguay and South Africa. Produce from these two countries is sold on the London market is increasing quantities every year. Sheep-farming in Paraguay is organised 011 large-scale lines. Any person who has visited South America will confirm the statement that the peon who works on the sheep-runs receives a mere pittance for his labour. Official figures set the wages for blacklabour on South African sheep farms at around..3os a month. A friend of mine who lived recently in the Union states that 5s a week would be more correct. Japan to-day is a keen buyer of New Zealand wool, but she is striving with success to develop Manchuria into a first-class wool nirm. Manchuria, 11 1 ore than four times the size 01' New Zealand, has already 3,000.000 sheep. 'I no coolie shepherd a:ui shearer can subsist on wages lower than those of the Japanese immigrant. The problem therefore of helping the farmer in New Zealand is bound up with the wages of the peon, the kaffir, and the coolie. Furthermore, other things being equal, it looks as if this problem will remain with us until the peon gets a rise in wages—an event which may take place at the end of a decade. It is not so long ago that Russia dumped high grade butter on to the London market at give-away prices. From the Soviet's point of view, this was not uneconomic in view of the Five-year Plan, whievi at the time demanded foreign valuta. The Dominions have the benefit of a small preferential tariff for butter. But what is to prevent Rusisa again capturing the market in England in this ruthless manner? Such an eventuality complicates the problem facing the New Zealand dairy-producer, and also the numerous political parties. All political parties have their own solution for this vital problem. The Nationalists point with a certain amount of pride to the 25 per cent, evchange rate, and are justified in claiming that, at least, the exchange is functioning in the right direction, even if it is far from a perfect solution. I am not clear as to how Mr ttislop intends to tackle the problem, but I gather that the Democrat policy is one of back to rugged individualism and the survival of the fittest. Candidates advocating neo-liberal remedies follow closely in Mr Hislop's footsteps, closing their eyes deliberately to factors which every intelligent person must recognise. As for Labour, we find that rehabilitating the farmer is not the chief plank but the four corner posts of their platform. Their formula under the name of price fixation is guaranteed to set every farmer in New Zealand firmly 011 his feel. I have heard Labour candidates attempting to expound ..ieir theory of price fixation, but I find that one and all make no reference whatever to the practical demonstration of the theory as carried out in America, and which to-day faces the world as a colossal failure. That the theory has failed in practice in the United States seems to the Labour party to be of no concern whatever. I will give one instance of the working of price fixation under President' Roosevelt's agricultural rehabilitation scheme. In 1929 the government fixed the price of cotton at 16'.} cents per lb. The result was an immediate increase in foreign production of cotton, amounting to the extent of 1,250,000 bales in a single year. In two years the loss to American farmers was 4,000,000 bales, and for the first time in history America is only producing less than half of the world's supply. Brazil, with plenty of English and even American capital, and with a supply of cheap labour, has stepped into the breach, and today this country stands to become a great cotton-producing unit. Her "industrialised" cotton farms require no price fixation in order to earn large profits. Finally, there are the independent candidates. Although I have read and re-read books on the new economy, I fail entirely to see how the principles of national credit can be applied to alleviating the situation either in part or in whole. On the other hand, the independent candidate for Avon, Mr L. C. Walker, has a scheme which is commendable in several respects. It is rational and practical, and the details of its functioning are not lost sight of in a maze of financial complexity. In a word, he reiterates the admonition of Bernard Shaw, who told an interjector at Christchurch that the best thing Hew Zealand could do was to eat her butter herself. Electors must uncover the political camouflage on this important subject; they muse disperse the smokescreens with .-.-hich candidates surround it. Then they will see clearly that, unless we can arrange to consume large quantities of our own national produce, the safest thin.; is to return the Nationalists at the polls, who, despite the short-comincgs of high exchange, have done much to alleviate the conditions of both big and little farmers, and who are fear-

lessly still pointing the way with cooru.nating and scientific measures like for instance the Dairying Act.—Yours, etc., FIXO. November 4, 1935.