INCREASING USE OF TRACTORS

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22135, 3 July 1937, Page 16

INCREASING USE OF TRACTORS

Change in Farm Practice

EFFECT OF HIGHER WAGES

At a conservative estimate 810 new farm tractors have been sold in Canterbury in the last 18 months, according to figures supplied by firms to "The Press" yesterday. This figure is not to be taken as indicative of the increased use of tractors but, as the total number of tractors in use in Canterbury at January 31, 1936, was only 1920, it is reasonable to assume that at least 400 tractors have replaced teams in farm work. The most important cause of this radical change in farming practice is the rise in farm wages and the difficulty in securing suitable men for teams even at the high wages imposed by statute, in the opinion of Mr W. W. Mulholland, president of the New Zealand Farmers' Union. "There is no doubt that so far as the machines have replaced men this has been the dominant factor," said Mr Mulholland. "Another factor is that the farm tractor has been considerably improved in recent years, and is not so expensive to run as formerly. Due weight must also be given to the fact that a fair proportion of the new tractors must represent replacements of old machines- Given these subsidiary factors there is no doubt that the dominant consideration with farmers has been the saving of wages since the recent legislative increases. There are many farmers also who are now finding it expedient because of the increased wages, added to the cost of attending to a team when it is not working, to purchase tractors and work them themselves. A tractor costs nothing to keep when it is not actually working and the farmer can do without the men he formerly employed before the increase in wages.

Other Causes

"Subsidiary factors influencing this change," Mr Mulholland continued, "have been that the rapid changes effected by legislation ha.ve made the farmer afraid that he will not be allowed to work teamsters the necessary hours for seasonal work or if they are allowed, that he will have to pay considerable overtime. But these latter considerations have been minor factors in the change that is taking place compared with the increase in teamsters' wages." '

For purposes of comparison the increases over three-year periods are given for the last 10 years. No Dominion figures are available for this year, but sales of one make alone from January 31, 1936, to June 30, 1937, have totalled 1190. and there are at least six different makes of tractor on the New Zealand market. The following is the table of increases:—

To June 30, 1927-30. 1930-23. 1033-36. 1937. New Zealand 1303 1023 798 Canter. bury 577 139 lOS 010

The following table gives a comparison of the tractors in use in the province and in the Dominion at January 31 in each year. No figure for the Dominion is available for this year:—

To June 30, 1927. 1930. 1933. 1936. 1937. New Zealand 2583 3331 4912 5710 Canterbury 1048 1G25 1814 1920 2730

In assessing the figures for the last 18 months no allowance has been made for tractors which mav have been withdrawn from use, the figures being for sales of new machines and not for machines actually in use, but sales managers said yesterday that the demand for tractors was so great that they did not think there were many machines retired from service. In any case the statistics showed the figures for machines in use up to 1936 and 18 months was not a long period* in the life of a farm tractor.