HELPING THE FARMERS

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22137, 6 July 1937, Page 13

HELPING THE FARMERS

TO THS BDITOB Of TB» F&EgS. j Sir,—lt is. to say the least, regrettable to find gentlemen, prominent in farmers' Organisations, harping upon the strings of the days of long ago, strumming worn-out platitudes. If Mr W. W. Mulholland were to read "The Press" carefully he might discover that it is not "the rise in farm wages and the difficulty in securing suitable men for teams even at the high wa"ges imposed by statute" that is the cause of the increased purchase of tractors. Farmers have been unduly exploited by other sections of the community, better educated in the realms of finance, ever since fanning began, and it matters not whether they get fa"" workers to work for their "tucker, or "high wages imposed by statute, or use the most up-to-date machinery, their balance of receipts over expenditure will be practically the same. When these other sections of the community, particularly those controlling the credit and currency, thoroughly j learn their lesson, the status of the farming community will be raised. "Freehold" and. "leasehold," used for ages to pull the wool over the eyes of farmers, matters not one iota, in the final analysis, in bettering the posi-1 tion of bona fide farmers. What really matters is the provision of the necessary finance to place the farming industry upon a proper basis. It is our most essential and important industry—essential, because we must have food, important, because it is the source of most of our wealth; and the question of the distribution of that wealth is the problem. Petrol is one of the important factors in industry and commerce, and we are all aware how its price is regulated throughout the world. There is an object lesson for aIL Governments In every counery. of every political brand, qance to the tune played by oil interests; the latter dictate the price. Why are the prices of farm products left to chance? That Is the question I would ask farmers to ponder over. Farmers have placed their trust in political pa.lies hitherto and have been let down; it is up to them to organise on industrial union lines and work out their own destiny. In the immediate future farmers should agitate for a national subsidy such as is reported in "The Press" to-day. From Great Britain the outstanding feature of the new policy, i.e., propounded by Mr W. S. Morrison, British Minister for Agriculture, "is that farming is to be subsidised to the extent of some £30,000,000 per annum." Conservative Britain's new policy should promote some thought in the minds of our farmers surely. Everyone sincerely interested in the future welfare of New Zealand realises that of the sum total of the country's annual production tha farmer must be given his fair quota. This is essentia] to every section of the community If prosperity is to be stabilised., The flow of money, currency, and credit, must be kept in an even steady stream. If any section of industry or commerce receives less than its fair quota, the flow is checked, and everybne suffers in common.— Yours, etc..

HIRAM HUNTER July 4. 1937.