EXPORTS AND THE LAND

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 55, 6 March 1914, Page 6

EXPORTS AND THE LAND

Up-to-dato figures indicating the movement ol oui- dairy exports shotf that the shipment of butter to the Wc.-t Coast of North America steadily increase--. A comparison made of the period from let September to 20fch October, with the corresponding period of last. year, shows that Vancouver took 24 83 ton& of butter, an increa&e of 483 tons; and .San Francisco received 847 tons, which it is understood was all for United States consumption. These figures, for which \ve are indebted to Messrs. J. B, MacE%ran and Co., show that the American Continent is diverting an increasing percentage of our butter, wlrch not so Jong ago went almost en* tirely to the United Kingdom. In cheeso the Mother Country is still almost our Bole customer; and this commodity, which is now 'Khead of butter in weight but not in value, is increasing in production afc a greater rate than is butter. Last year's output was about 20 per Cetit. ahead of the preceding year's. Taking the current season up to 20th February, and comparing it with the corresponding period laflt yew. cheese allows an increase of 14.61 per cent., and butter an increase of 14.28 per cent. These figures indicate Only a' slight difference, but che<26e-making continues much later than butter-making, and by the end of Iho season, it is likely that the choose increase will again be something approaching 20 per cent. Thus the export of cheese, which goes to the United Kingdom, is gaining on that of butter, which carries the name of New Zealand into the United Kingdom, Canadtf, the^ United States, and one or two lesser markets. Good prices, a fear of butter substitutes, and an impression that Canada is giving less attention to cheese, aro among the factors behind the New Zealand choescmaking movement ; and no likely check to it is as yet discernible on the economic horizon. At the rate at which dairy farming is advancing we must expect butter and cheese to steadily forge ahead of frozen mutton, unless 1 the latter slkws a considerably increased export this season. Though wool is still easily the most valuable of our oxports, tho challenge of dairy produce to frozen mutton shows that the cow is gaining appreciably on the sheep. It is not Guggested that the extension of sheepfarming will not continue, but that the ! rate of expansion of dairy-farming will necessarily be greaten As the cow stands for closer settlement, this is exactly what the country wants ; and another thing required is a Government that will accelerate the process of subdivision. Such a cutting'iip of bhei larger estates as is now in progress is due not so much to State-purchase or to the graduated tax as to the price of land. That is not only a slow system of breaking \\\) the bigger blocks, but it is a costly one for the small settler, who has to carry the load. His chance would be vastly improved, and the productive value of tho country would "be greatly increased, if the State took to itself, in addition to compulsory purchase, the power of compulsory sale on deferred payment. The cutting-up of land on that basis would soon be reflected in a great increase of exports, and that 13 a development which is more than warranted by the magnitude of the new markets that are opening.