THE FARMERS' SACRIFICES

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3188, 12 September 1917, Page 9

THE FARMERS' SACRIFICES

(To the -Editor.) Sir—Mr. Mander, in his interesting speech on the Financial Statement, quoted Sir James Wilson, the president of the Farmers' Union, as his authority for the statement that our farmers had, Sir James thought, conceded about three million pounds sterling to thai British Government on the produce commandeered by them for war purposes. It is evident' Sir James had not given tho subject much thought, as ho asked Air. Mander, who put tho question lo him, to verity his figures. To assist iu the elucidation and endeavour to arrive at a correct estimate, I take the following table of Imperial purchases from a reprint of Mr. Beaucnamp's speech at the half-yearly meeting of the Bank of New Zealand shareholders; held on Ju.ne 22, 1917: — Imperial Purchases from tho Commencement of the Commandeer up to June 2, 1917.

Frozen meal from II arch 3, 1915 17,0116,328. Cheese from November <1, 1015 3,522,051! AVonl from December 1. 1916... 10,807,949 Sheelite from December 20, 1915 74,178 Sheepskins from February 5, ■j()17 139,008 Hides from' March 10, 1017 118.193 Slipe wcol from March 31, 1917 817,191 Other Hems 136,"03 £32,021,599 I have 110 record of 1 quantity, and can only arrive at it by approximating tue price, which in the case of frozen meat 1 take at the all-round price of (id. per lb. Oil the sum paid this works out at 680,253,000 pounds weight. Sir James estimates the concession in price on this at 2d. per lb. (Vide his letter ciuoted in "Hansard," and which amounts to iCS,608,750. Our next item is cheese, and 1 quote from Sir James's letter that "the cjjecso people made a present last year of «t300,000" to the Home Government, We have, however, to deal with more than one year, and the money value of the quantity commandeered and paid for up lo June 2, 1917, is .£51,522,086. Prices reused from 7}d. to Old., and I have, for convenience of calculation, taken b'd. per lb. as 1 the meivu, which-gives a total quantity of 17,170 tons. 'L'he concession here has proved a very liberal one, and J have seen it estimated as high as .1270 per ton. I. prefer, however, to err oil Hie conservative side, and allow only half, or, say. .£35 per ton, which the dairy farmers have conceded, and which works out at ,£1,650,950.

Tho sum paid For wool, .including slipe, is ,£11,625',143, the price of which is arrived at by. the assessors by adding 55 per cent. lo the averages realised ut auction within the Dominion for the 1013-11 clip. Now, everyono knows that the standard value of wool can only lie arrived, at My. taking the net price obtained in London, as Dominion purchases at auction and privately are purely speculative, and why dominion prices have been taken as a basis it is difficult to understand. The offset lms been to transfer (he increased freight and charges to the producer or seller instead of Iho buyer, who would havo been liable for the increase, if London prices had been adopted. More than half the allowance of 55 per cent, hasi been swallowed up, as I can show by a reference to my own account sales. A note made at shearing time indicates that 1 was offered 10} d. for fleece wool and Gd. t'or piece?, less 2i per cent., which was declined and the wool shipped through the National Bank as usual. The net price obtained in London was- Is. IJ4. per' lb., all over, including pieces, or Bs. 0(1. per fleece; 55 tier cent, added to the latter gives 13s. 6jd. per fleece. I received 10s. 2d. per fleece, or only Ifi per cent, increase on the IDI3-H price, or nbo.it Id. per lb. short of tho promised increase of 55 per cent. I a-rrive at the qiifantilv by approximating the greasy wool at Is. "'kl., and the slipe at In. per lb., and this gives me l/Q.UOO.WIO lbs., v-hich at 4d, per lb. amounts to «£2,838.180.

T deil only with fihe cnncessitvis oil froxen meat, cheese, and wool, and summarise (hem-as underj— JZ Frozen meat at' 2d. fier 1b....... . r i.C(iß.7. r iO f'.lieese at .£35. per top 1,650,950 Wool and slipe at •!<!. per 1b.... 2,838,180 ■610,157,880 1 regard this as a'conservative I estimate, as anyone whrt will take the trouble to compare the Home with the comma"deer"d price.? will be able lo judfe, but T note with satisfaction that no farmer complain". aJid only asks fir credit for the sacrifices he is making, and thev are many.—T am, etc., FABMKR. [The Board of Trade's estimate of the concessions, made by 'ho primary producers mp to date was a little under •£9,000,000.]