LAND AND FARMERS

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 112, 8 November 1930, Page 13

LAND AND FARMERS

.■ ■■ •;.-. .-i-'- ■-••■♦'. ..■"'.' . .'; .■ :' ::. (To the Editor.) Sir,—Beading; your '.-very sensible remarks on- Mr. Adam Hamilton's suggestions induces me to pen the following:.The farmer is up against it' at present partly through the fall: in. value o£. his produce, , but. mainly through land speculation, iir the good tiniest Mr. Hamilton,. while pointing out the fact. that, during the war year's Uie world's markets were denied the formers, did not point out the extremely good prices the farmer got for all his produce. Times were indeed so good that hundreds of farmers bought four or five farms. You rightly say the soldier settlers are in a different category. The very act of the Government buying land for returned men automatically kept the price of land up. and it would have been really wonderful \l ever experienced farmers could have made good on these settlement farms at the price they were and meeting the' slumps the soldier did.. Tlie Government should have commandeered the land at Pre-war value, plus a certain amount for improvements. True, the soldier has had a certain amount ■written oft' for him, but it ie doubtful even now if he has value for his money, and the farmers who sold those farms to the Government have had the money from the public. I would point out that farmers are just like other people, in business for their O'wn good, a fact of tea overlooked. If a person buys or starts, a business in any town, and through any reason whatsoever. goes bankrupt it is no use complaining to the Government or the public. He must get on as" best he'can. It should be the same with the farmer. Of course, one can see Mr. Hamilton is working for a reduction in wages, just as Mr. Coates looked for a lead from the Government in this direction, electioneering, I suppose. Whose wages will they reduce? The farm labourer's is low enough, or would they pay less? I presume a general decrease all round is sought, but will this help the farmer? If through reduced wages the average family of four saved £2 per year on clothes and boots that is little help to the farmer. For can he grumble at the price of groceries or electric power. Freight charges are admittedly very keen, There cannot be much saving in this direction. Implements,, fencing material are not a very high price, and any saving would amount to very little over its lifetime. Kates and taxes are fairly level, and cannot in justice to. other people be reduced. Where then will the help come from? If anything, the public will have less to spend on the farmers' produce. It is often said that lower wageJ will permit the farmer to engage more labour. I have lived amongst farmers for the past nine years, and with few exceptions never knew them to employ 'any more than absolutely necessary. Also, the seasonal worker is promptly discharged when that particular job is done. The farmers seem to think they are the fairy godmothers of all others, but when facts are examined that is proved incorrect. They forget the manure carried at cost price on the railway, and" the- big subsidies paid to establish a market overseas, which is liable to act like a boomerang since the overseas market generally fixes the price, here-to-the consumer. The wheat subsidy is bad enough, and it is to be hoped they will not try- to foist the Patterson butter scheme on the public of New Zealand. This slump will be a- blessing in disguise if it will force the price of land down to a sensible levels and the farmer, must do what any other business man has to do— < make the best of it. I might add that hundreds o£ the unemployed pnt all their capital into Government homes, the sections of which were aboui £300 for a sixth-acre, but we don't hear such a lot of grumbling on his behalf. Mr. Coates when Prime Minister once referred to the money his Government made out of the Hutt Valley settlement scheme. Of course, he could say any private _ person would have done the.same; but is £300 a fair price for a section, and many of these men-are up against it as bad as any farmer. There would not be so much unemployment if land was a reasonable price because hundreds of people with small capital couM go on it and make a cpmfortnblo living.—l am, etc., HARD FACTS.