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NEW ZEALAND.

A NATION IN THE MAKING. COPPER-FASTENED OR JERRY* BUILT. [By Johx M‘Ki:AGr?..] Second Series. —No. 1. [Copyright.] , Under the Southern Cross, with a fertile soil, mines and minerals in abundance, forests, the finest of scenery, plenty of genuine sport, and a penial climate, a. nation may arise in the Dominion that shall perpetuate the best qualities of the Anglo-Saxon race, and avoid those causes that have produced degeneracy in many nations of tne past, and are now producing degeneracy in nations of the present. A great deal has been spoken and written and printed in New Zealand regarding the relative merits or alleged merits of the freehold and the leasehold systems of land tenure. Whatever those merits may or may not be, there is a something of much more importance in connection with the soil. And that something is the maintaining of (he fertility of the land. In the year 1891 Sir James Hector warned the people of New Zealand as follows: In connection with the subject of chemistry there is a point of vast importance to the future of the pastoral and agricultural interests of New Zealand. to -which attention was directed - some years ago by Professor Thomas and Mr Pond, of Auckland —that is, the rapid deterioration which the soil must be undergoing by the steadv export of the constituents on which” plant and animal life must depend for nourishment Mr Pond calculates that in 1883 the intrinsic value of the fixed nitrogen and phosphoric acid and potash sent out annually was £592,000, taking into account the woo! and the wheatalone: now that we have to add the exported carcasses of beef and mutton, hones and all. the annual loss must be immensely greater, and probably not 1, ss than £1.000.000. Ihe proper course , would be, of course, to bring back return cargoes of artificial manure, but men then its application to most of our pastoral lands would be out of the onestion 1 sincerely hope that the problem will be taken in hand by the Agricultural College at Lincoln, as a matter deserving of practical studv and investigation. Neither Ih° I) onarlm/mf of

- , , j ...... , ‘ikuuuuiic Tioi the Agncultnral College at Lincoln have taken the matter in hand and dealt •"ith it as a matter deserving of rractical audv and investigation. Let us see what. tion k ° n P SC€ s " lCe 1891 in this '-'onnecExports of Xew Zealand f^toaT^' 00 , 1 ' £4 - 129 - 636 ! frozen meat, £1.L4,724; butter and cheese. £236.933produce, £894,467; total. i'O, £ foo,Blo. ocn^- 00 ' - £8,008.410 : frozen meat, i0.860.77t; butter and cheese, £3,007.348; agricultural produce, £481,522- total’ £15,648,057. ’ Increases or Decreases.—Wool. + 101% • Frozen meat. +2227,, : butter and cheese’. + 1*169/0 ; agricultural produce. total, +142%: " ’ It is scarcely necessary to say that the sign + means an increase, the sign a decrease, and that % means per hundred. Jt may be that the London prices were higher in 1910 than they were in 1895, in which case the higher’ sums of money would modify the amounts of the coustitu"-. ents of the soil shipped out of the country. Isut the variation cannot materially alter the conclusion, startling in its amount, that if Sir James Hector was right in 1891, the Dominion is now exporting the constituents of the soil at the rate of over £2.000,000 a year. That will come to an end some day. if manures in sufficient quantities are not put back into the soil to replace that taken out each year by the crops. The matter stands, thsu :

Kxptirts of tin.' Products of (ho Soil.—• Kxport. 1906, 1907. 1908. 1909. 1910. ool £6.765,655 ... £7.657,275 ... £5,552,781 ... £6,505,888 ... £8.008,410 meat 2.877,051 ... 5.420,664 ... 5,180.515 ... 5,601,093 ... 5,850,777 Uniter and cheese ... 1.901,257 ... 2,277,700 ... 1,954,601 ... 2.744,770 ... 5,007.548 Agricultural produce ... 270,542 ... 162,967 ... 265,730 ... 976,170 ... 481,522 Totals £11.814,465 ... £15.518,609 ... £10,741,627 ... £15.627,921 ... £15.646.057 Artificial Diallings imported 209,838 ... 254.759 ... 254,054 ... 269,453 ... 275,585 Dilil-reiitc in £‘.s £11,604,627 ... £15,283.870 ... £10,487,575 ... £15,553.468 ... £15,574,674

Making allowance for the nitrogen extracted from tlie air. the -fact remains that in these,live rears the constituents of *he .soil, over and above the value of the ar;ificial manure returned to 4 he sod. were shipped out of the Dominion to the value of £64,109,210. Cropping land, and not returning sufficient manure to the soil, has led to the following results :

1. At the beginning of the nineteenth century the soil of the State of New York yielded 20 to 30 bushels of wheat to the acre; at the. close of the century it yielded only 5 to 7 bushels. 2. In the fertile State of Ohio in 50 years the yield of wheat decreased from 26 bushels per acre to less than half that amount. 3. The Secretary of the Stale Board of Agriculture of the State of Rhode, Island, in his report to.the United States Industrial Commission, says that neglected or untilled farms are found in every county of the State; that these unproductive farms arc now succumbing to the encroaching forests without yielding anything to the welfare of the commonwealth. Some of these farms, he states, left to decay and weeds, were once the pretentious homes of happy and contented households. They were deserted because they were unproductive. And what of New Zealand? In the Journal of the Department of Agriculture we read : 4. Pastures grazed with mature cattle or sheep are not so soon exhausted as when grazed with milch cows, breeding ewes, or young stock; and in the latter case ah occasional application of some suitable fertiliser is essential, and pavs handsomely. 5. One of the causes of the deterioration of many New Zealand pastures is undoubtedly overstocking. In Central Otago experiments are in progress regarding the regrassing of the Jana, which, to a large extent, cannot any .longer grow grass. And in due time, as matters now go, all New Zealand will be in a ’similar position. Things mav go right until the exhaustion of the soil ,rx general has progressed far enough, and then the operation of the following principle, reproduced from Article 1., will he keenly felt: To-day 100 coats ... = £IOO To-morrow 50 coats = £IOO J-coat = £1 /.A contraction of products=higher prices. When the exhausted soil refuses to give its former yields of crops, then prices will rise, and, gradually, salaries and wages ■remaining stationary, largo numbers of

the people will be reduced below the line of desirable environment, and physical deterioration, with its consequences—-feeble-mindedness, vagrancy, insanity, and crime—wiH receive a fresh impetus. until that time arrives the reverse is the case, and in New Zealand, in common with otner countries, lulls many men into the unnatural slumber and dreams of a tinsel paradise. Eo long as the natural productiveness of the soil remains the following principle, from Article 1., operates:— To-day 100 coats ... = £IOO To-morrow 200 coats = £IOO 2 coate = £1 An expansion of the products = lower prices. , Later we will see that the prices are varied by other causes. So long as the J virgin soil yields bountiful crops men nc- I cumulate ,\ealth, and retire to live in ease i and luxury. Recently th© New Zealand ! Government appointed a Royal Connnis- ! won to investigate the cost of living, and i in its report wo read ; j . . . There is good reason for be- i Jieving that this increase in land values : is creating a. class of people, divorced ! from the active cultivation of the soil, : who devote a large proportion of their wealth to the pursuit of pleasure and luxury. . . , These, as we have seen, are the primary causes that led (1) to the wealth and luxury of the Roman Empire, and (2) the lessened production coupled with the contraction of the currency to her downfall. There is room here for repeated and Icim-con-tinued reflection for New Zealanders 0 In the report of the Commission on the Cost of Living in New Zealand these two statements occur : (1) ■ • - as the prices for commodities are fixed by those ruling in foreign markets to winch New Zealand exports. (2) in regard, to meat, the puces arc also found, to he the same "hen an accurate comparison is made, and not a comparison between retail prices in New Zealand, often for special parts of tho carcass, and wholesale pnee-s in England for the whole carcass. From the same report we get these figures : —London Prices.— heat, _ Lincoln per New Zealand wool, Year. quarter, prices, per bushel, per lb. 1897 ... 30s 2d 4s 2jjd (1897-93) 9§d 1911 ... 51s Sri 3s 8d (1909-10) lOd Increase, +5% -f 4°-' Decrease —13% The figures for New Zealand wheat, as given in this table, and taken from the report of the Commission on the. Cost of laving, seemed so unsatisfactory to the author of these articles that lie went further into the figures given in that report, and found—

(1) The average, price of Xew Zealand wheat for the 5 rears before 1897 “ ... 3 S 3d (2) The average price of New Zealand wheat for the. 11 years following 1897 v . ... 3 S 4;d This shows an increase of 4 per cent. Now, let, ns get at the facts regarding New Zealand meat, the authorities being Messrs \V. AVeddel and Co., Ltd., London, and the New Zealand ‘ Year Book ’ regarding the prices of meat for Canterbury. —Prices of Meat in London and in Xew Zealand.— J.ondon. Reef, per lb. 'Mutton. Year. Fores. Hinds, per lb. 1901 ... 3d (1905) 3ld 4id 1910 ... 3d 3|d 4id Increase Decrease Xew Zealand. Beef, Mutton, Year. per lb. per lb. 1901 5d 4d 1910 6d 4|d Increase .. +20% +6,2% 1910. X.Z. iamb in London s|d X.Z. lamb in New Zealand ... 6ld Dearer in Xew Zealand by ... |d (Nearly a penny a pound). These, then, are facts: 1. The London prices do not regulate the Xew Zealand prices. 2. New Zealand meat is dearer in Xew Zealand than in London. 5. The price of meat is getting less in London, while in Xew Zealand it is increasing rapidly. The report of the Commission states that the increase in the price of land has been brought about hr the higher prices of its products; and ’in the same report these two statements appear: Rent has increased 20 per cent in the last 15 years. M holesale prices have risen 7 per cent from 1894-98 to 1306-10—16 years. The prices that farmers get for their produce are wholesale prices, and to assert that an increase, in rent of 20 per cent, has arisen troin an increase of 7 per cent, for farm products is j 5 - what ? The Commission had not read a recent address of the president of the Bank of Xew Zealand to the shareholders, or it would have travelled on another road, lhat address, read_ in conjunction with these figures, are of great worth to. and turmsn tood for thinking for, the peonle of the Dominion; —Mortgages.—

3 = 'i + ~ 5 %, -7 X tty'3 - +. 1897-98 ... 729,065 £1,185~483 £l*l2" 6 ISOB-09 ... 960.642 8,867,422 9 4 7

Increases +31.8% +467.9°/ That means that the people of the Do°minion, who have to borrow monev on mortgage, are getting swamped with debt, they are being forced below the, line of desirable environmeifl, and physical deterioration and its consequences' will follow in due time. In determining interest, the rate percent. per annum is only one of the factors that determine the amount of interest; the principal niav he a more important factor. During the last 20 rears the val-uo of hand has more than'’ doubled -Now, if the tenant had to borrow £IOO on mortgage 20 years ago, he might have had to pay £l2 for the use of the monev for a year. Now, on the same land he would have to borrow at least £2OO for the same object, and the problem works out ; 1891—£100 at 12 per cent. = £l2 1912—£200 at 6 per cent. = £l2 And, if the land has more than doubled, the borrower would have to pay more than as interest for the same object Now this increased price of land, referred to by a former president of the Bank of New Zealand, has this effect: it a young man had saved £SOO 20 years ago, and, wishing to get married, bought a. 200-acre farm at £lO an acre, he would bare had to pay interest on £1,500 at 12 per cent.—namely, £IBO a year To-div the same farm would cost £2O an acre probably more. He would, therefore’ have to pay interest on £3,500 at 6 per cent.—-namely, £2lo—and he would be at least _£oo a year to the bad, and if he exercise, the same prudence in 1912 as he exercised 20 years before, he must postpone his marriage. But the raising of th= age at mamage, in all ages, has goim hand m hand with sexual vice, and with a lessened number of children in the family M-e shall see whether this be so in the Dominion.

Or the young man may borrow the money from the Advances to Settlers Office. In that event, for every £IOO borrowed he pays back 72 half-yeaiV sums % one half-yearly sum of £1 los 10d, to repay both principal and interest, it he be a struggling settler, who cannot pay the instalments on the nail that means that at the end of 36A years he has paid £217 13s lOd for the £IOO he borrowed Phis is the payment printed £trW nS T> ° f ,le Advances to Settle s Office But the real payment may be much less, or it may lie mr-h more, than what has been arranged; "it

will hardly ever be the same. Let us restate the following principle from Article To-day. £IOO = 100 coats. To-morrow, £2OO = 100 coats. £1 = 1 coat. Now, if when the arrangement was made with the Advances to Settlers Office, the borrower bad to sell wheat to tlie value of £1 an acre to pay the interest, on his loan, in this case, owing to an expansion of the currency, he will have to sell the corresponding quantity from each half-acre. But the exactly opposite may eventuate. Let us restate the following principle, also from Article I. : To-day. £]oo ICO coats. 1 o-morrow, £SO = 100 coats. .'. £1 = 2 coals. If when the borrower-made his arrangement with the .Advances to Settlers Office he had to sell wheat to the value of £1 j ;ul ni>re tr > Pay the interest on his loan, in ; this case, owing to tho contraction of the currency, he will have lo sell the same quantity of wheat from each of two acre? to fulfil the same obligation. And that tnis is so.is confirmed bv the foliowiiu- extract from a well-known some©;— ° AAe are not to expect, therefore that the value of money will remain constant through any long period. One of the two parties to long contracts will in all probability, Jose, while the other gams by the change in values. The losses thus sustained may be slight; t-h-ey may be serious, even ruinous. The prosperity of one class of the community will, from the same cause, raise prices to the other classes, or one prosperous season may raise prices during other years not so prosperous. The balloting for sections under the Land for Settlements Act lias all the elements of gambling. The advances to settlers is also a gamble, but of a more intimate and hidden nature-—a. common, everyday man, who parades the country und-rg the guise of an angel. I ho merits or demerits of the freehold or the leasehold system nf land tenure are ema 11 compared with the facts set forth in this article in. connection with the land in the Dominion. Notu ithistanding the thousands who have been settled on the laud, under the Land for Settlements Act. the following figures tell their own tale: ■ Movement of the Population.— Living ,:u Living in Year. _ (Anilities. Boroughs. 1891 ... 56.18 percent- 43.14 per cent.. 1911 ... 49.26 percent. 50.14 per cent. furthermore, the breadwinners were 25.47 per cent, of the total population in 1901, but had gone down to 23.53 r-er cent in 1911. 1 ! Comparing New Zealand with the Roman Empire, we find ; (1) Die same accumulation of wealth I from the soil. (2) An idle and wealthy class divorced from the soil. to) The depopulating of the country, j and the people flocking to the towns ami I cities. 1 he soil of New Zealand is being made barren, owing to defective methods, or rataer (he absence of method, of keepiim it ina fertile condition; and in due time I the. barren soil and its diminished yield of farm crops will work the. same, mischief in New Zealand a.s they worked in the diseased Roman Empire prior to its fall The causes given in the report of the Commission on the Cost of Living regarding the exodus of the people from the count!y districts to the towns anti cities are, tor the most part, bush tracks leadhm to blind allevs, 15

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Bibliographic details

Evening Star, Issue 15075, 6 January 1913, Page 3

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2,819

NEW ZEALAND. Evening Star, Issue 15075, 6 January 1913, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND. Evening Star, Issue 15075, 6 January 1913, Page 3