THE NEEDS OF THE POULTRY INDUSTRY

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 151, 23 March 1925, Page 9

THE NEEDS OF THE POULTRY INDUSTRY

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —One of the most foolish things done on behalf of the poultry industry by one of its spokesmen in New Zealand has been a recent attempt to sow the seed of discord between the Farmers’ Union of the North Island and the South Island section. It is claimed that by asking the Government to permit the free importation of one million bushels of wheat the North Island Farmers’ Union, in conjunction with poultrymen, are disloyal to the wheat producers of Canterbury, even though these wheat growers cannot grow sufficient wheat for local requirements. The fact is that poultrymen have been so loyal to, these wheat farmers as to be disloyal to themselves, and have done so for years by allowing the Government to place prohibitive duties and i embargoes on cheap Australian foods, ■ ( and to pay to local growers what is ! probably the highest price for poultry ' food in the world. These conditions i have been more or less chronic for years. ' The least that can be said of . the poultrymen’s leadership in the past • iu dealing with this matter is that it i has been of the flimsiest and most futile kind, if not actually harmful. We ; all believe in encouraging local industry up to any reasonable extent, more especially for sucli fundamental items as wheat production. But if, in spite of such heavy duties and embargoes, i we can only grow a small portion of i New Zealand requirements, why not I import without taxing other industries off their feet? Is it wise to foster such artificial conditions as would destroy the poultry industry in order to force a growth beyond natural and reasonable possibilities ? Wool has risen from’ 8 to 30 pence per pound, and so land values have swollen accordingly. If the wheat grower transfer his activities to wool growing or wishes to raise his wellbeing to the level of the wool grower '

by insisting on exorbitant wheat prices then there cannot exist a poultry industry in this country. This enormous rise in wool means swollen land values, rent, and interest, which enriches the land-owning and Shy lock fraternity generally. The extra costs are passed on ,by them to the wheat grower, and the latter expects to pass them on to the wheat users in higher prices under pretence that otherwise he cannot make, a living. But this spoon-feeding of the land-owning and financial interests through the wheat cocky by the consumers of wheat cannot go on indefinitely. By careful selection during the lasr 20 years poultrymen have raised the number of eggs laid by the average hen by probably 75 per vear. Wliat benefit did they get for it ? None nt all. All that happens is that the price of feed and accessories rises up to absorb the benefit of the extra production, and the poultryman remains the same ragged-trousered philanthropist, The remedy is the scrapping o? old methods and of middle-man-minded leadership. Among mem- I bers narrow individualism is still very much rampant. Given a half- I penny bait each will scramble away I to snap at it, and leave the organisa- | tion anaemic and powerless. What N i it that has made the All Blacks so . all-powerful and invincible ? L is the ; cleverness and precision in their team work or group strategy—in other words, co-operation. That is the Poul- ' try Conference’s most important bum- ' ness, to teach the membership team ■ work, but that is -probably what it has most neglected. Howevet, there are ( signs of improvement.—l am etc., H. LEGEP. ; Weraroa, Levin, March 8, 1925. I