TRACTOR IMPORTS

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25551, 20 July 1948, Page 6

TRACTOR IMPORTS

MANUFACTURERS’ VIEWS Not much value could be placed on the survey oi farm tractor requirements being conducted by Federated Farmers, because farmers Were being asked for their requirements in certain categories, and were not required to state their immediate needs or that they were in a position to buy now, said the vice-president of the New Zealand Farm Implement Manufacturers’ Federation (Mr T. H. Lawn) yesterday. “Why not leave the matter of what is required by farmers in the hands of the people who know more about it than any other—the distributors?” he asked.

Mr Lawn, who was commenting on a statement by the chairman of the action committee of Federated Farmers (Mr R. G. Buckleton) on farm machinery requirements in New Zealand, said the in normal times the budget of importation and manufacture was based on the surveys made by the distributors, whose men in the field knew what the prospects were. Many farmers would say what they would like to have, but getting them to commit themselves to an actual order was an entirely different matter. “Hence the present survey does not indicate actual shortages of farm machinery so much as it tells just what the farmer would like to have.” he said. He agreed that there had been relatively few imports of heavy crawler tractors, but there had been a large outbut from Britain of the lighter wheeled tractors. These were capable of drawing up to three furrow, he said. Local manufacturers had borne the brunt of supply of farm implements for some time and were quite capable of dealing with New Zealand’s requirements. The survey indicated that 1362 side delivery rakes were required, but during the last nine years New Zealand manufacturers had made 5000 and would make about 700 this season.

.‘The most vital thing for Great Britain is the saving of any needless expenditure of dollars. The increased food production derived from large volumes of farm machinery, purchased with dollars, would not compensate for the economic loss of the dollars to Great Britain,” he added.