PORK INDUSTRY

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVII, Issue 220, 15 August 1927, Page 2

PORK INDUSTRY

INTEREST TO DOMINION

SPEECH BY HON. E. NEWMAN

Speaking in the Legislative Council the Hon. E. Newman said :—I desire to move, That, in the opinion of this council, in the paramount interest of establishing a pig-products export industry. the question should be con-: siderecl of remitting the Customs duty on maize and other food-products necessary for the economical operation and development of this business. I move this motion for the object of throwing some light upon the obstacles that are preventing the development of the export of pig-products from New Zealand. Perhaps the importance of' this may not be realised by honourable members to the full extent it should be; and in order to show the need for something being done without delay to relieve the position of farmers in New Zealand-; 1 propose to deal with that point first. I do not know whether or not I am the only farmer in the Council —I suppose not—-but whether honourable members are farmers or not they all come into contact with farmers, and must realise that the position at the present time is, to say the least of it, somewhat alarming. In addressing a meeting quite recently a well-known public man on the west coast of the North Island stated —and it lias not been contradicted —that over 1400 farmers have left their farms within the last five years, that 463 farmers have done so within the last twelve montlis, and there are 9000 fewer people employed on the land now than there were five years ago. I do not guarantee the absolute accuracy of these figures. I suppose we will all agree that the prosperity of the primary producers of New Zealand means the prosperity, of the whole • Dominion, and that any policy which adversely affects the farmers is injurious to the whole Dominion. If the statement which I have just quoted is true —it looks as if the farmers are at present in rather a bad way. Quito recently we had another statement, made by the head of a well-known stock and station agency business firm. He said that he would not be surprised if before long the current bank-rate was 8 per cent., not 7 per cent. That shows the state of affairs in the country from his point of view. The head of another well-known firm of solicitors which finances farmers said that he had on his books for investment sums of money running into six figures, but with the definite instruction that no advances were to be made on country lands. Under these circumstances I think it must be admitted that the position of the small farmers in New Zealand now is such as to cause alarm. I do not know that it would do any good to discuss the causes of the present depression among farmers. I hold very strong opinions on the matter myself. I may say that it is not the result of low prices for produce, because the prices of much of our own produce are quite good.

WANT OF CONFIDENCE. The principal cause is want of confidence, more especially on the part of the people who have been in the habit of lending money to finance farmers. The consequence is that the farmers are forced back upon the Government, and the Government is trying to undertake the impossible task of financing all the landowners throughout New Zealand. The only thing that can be done, I feel convinced, is to restore confidence in the farmers and those who finance them, and in order to do that you must put them in the way of so increasing their incomes that the security which they have to offer to lenders is higher than it is now, and will therefore enable them to claim the necessary advances. I am not referring to the sheep-farmers at the present time. The people I am referring to now are the dairy-farmers. In my opinion the sheep-farmers, apart from those on deteriorated lands, have very little to complain about. They are getting good prices for their wool and their sheep, and they are obtaining fertilizers for top-dressing at prices which are considerably les3 than the fertilizers can be produced for. There is no doubt that there will be a great increase in the demand for land for sheep-farming within a very short time if those conditions remain as they are now. And if nothing is done to improve the financial position of dairymen then an orgy of laml aggregation may be looked for. SOUNDER FOOTING WANTED. | It appears to me that the time has ! come when we must do something to , put the dairy-farmer on a sounder footing. As honourable gentlemen all know, an effort has been made to develop the pig-products industry within the last two years or so. In order to make clear the position with regard to that industry and the market that exists for pig-products, I have had some figures worked out which I propose to place before the Council. The value of bacon, ham and pork imported into the United Kingdom in 1926 aggregated practically £55,000,000. £54,635,771 was paid by Great Britain for pig-products in 1926. It appears, therefore, that there is no lack of market for all the produce of this kind that we can supply. If we can develop the pig industry, there is no question that the Old Country can take all we can produce. Of those products to the value of £55,000,000, New Zealand supplied bacon to the value of £27, ham to the value of £238, and pork to the value of £238,000 —a total of £238,355. WHAT DANES HAVE DONE.

Now, what did our friends, the Danes, do? The Danes realised some years ago, after the success of the dairy exporting became apparent, that the pig industry should naturally run with the dairy industry; and they set themselves out to develop the pig industry. I will quote from the book issued by the Danish Government, a copy of which book was brought home by the Commissioners who went over there. This is from page 93 of the book entitled “Denmark,” issued by the Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1925 showing how they started by putting pig fattening food-stuffs on their tree list:

“The Customs Act at present in force dates from 1924. Among the imports exempt from duty may be named animals and animal products, seeds, grain and milling produce.” So that, in regard to what is required for fattening pigs, the Danes allow it in free of duty. Further on this book says,— “The biggest groups among the imports were unground grain and pulse and feeding stuffs. The heaviest import quantity in these groups was that of oil-cake', there having been imported for consumption 759,000,000 kilos in 1924: of maize there were imported 422,000,000 kilos, of rye and wheat 416,000,0001 kilos, and of barley and oats 199,000,000 kilos. _ The total crop yield of Danish cultivation is, of course, much greater than the feeding stuffs imported from abroad; but it must be remembered that a supply of nitrogenous fodder, especially oilcake, for the purpose of supplementing the domestic root-crops is necessary to the intensive animal husbandry.

of Denmark.”

Later, in regard •to this point, the Danish Bureau of Agricultural Economics issued a pamphlet, and this is part of what appears in it;— “It is thought a special diet'to prepare hogs for the British market is unnecesary, but a mixed diet, properly balanced, is the great essential. Corn is used because it is the cheapest and fastest finishing food, and the Danish farmer’s problem is to use the maximum amount of cheap food without cheapening the quality or grade of his product. The brood sow is allowed the freedom of the yard pen until eight days before farrowing, and is then kept in the farrowing-pen under cover, and fed 75 per cent, barley, the rest skimmed milk and grain. These pens are usually of the thatehedroof variety. The sow is fed three times a day, the farmer watching her progress very carefully the last fortnight. The pigs are weaned between six and seven weeks of ago, after which they are fed almost.entirely on skimmed milk and barley, rye, or corn until they are six or seven months old and ready for market.” LONDON BUYERS. This shows that the Danes are much alive to the importance of satisfying the London buyers, and realise thoroughly the value of this trade. I would now like to quote an extract from the annual report of the London Central Market, Smitlifield,- with regard to the quality of what we export : “In June of last year the Imperial Government announced an embargo on all fresh meat from the Continent of Europe. The effect of this on the pork market of the United Kingdom is referred to in the following interesting extract from the annual report of the London Central Markets, Smithfield : ‘The increase in the marketing of home-bred beef, mutton and pork, compared with' 1925, is satisfactory; but pig breeding in the British Isles has some way to go before overtaking the deficiency in the quantity of fresh pork caused by the embargo upon Dutch-killed pigs in June last. The deficiency may be put at 17,000 tons, or about half a million 801 b pigs ; and, although Smithfield prices were attractive, the combined efforts of British and Irish producers failed to counterbalance the shortage. Other countries were as badly off as the British. Isles, and could not supply the. class and weight pig in demand. Now Zealand nearly filled the picture as regards quality, but lacked continuity of supplies.’ ” QUALITY SATISFACTORY. It would therefore appear that the quality of the product exported from New Zealand is up to the mark. At the present time we export only 4 per cent, of what we produce in connection with the pig industry. As honourable gentlemen are aware, efforts have been made to develop this trade, but so far the results obtained have been almost negligible. No substantial progress lias been made, and it is the duty of Parliament to ascertain what are the obstacles standing in the way of the development of the industry, for obviously it should work in with the dairy industry, and should be of enormous value to the people of New Zealand. As a matter of fact, the reason for the failure to develop the industry is that the pigs require a period of hard feeding before being shipped, and New Zealand, not being essentially a grain-growing country, cannot produce that pig-fattening food at a sufficiently low price to make it a payable proposition for the dairy farmers to use it on a largo .scale for pig fattening. We have in skimmed milk and whey two essentials for rearing pigs, but without grain it is quite impossible to make a success of the export trade'. During the past six years the area of maize grown has steadily declined. In 1921 there were 11,514 acres of grain grown, but in 1926 there were only 8580 acres grown. The duty on maize, as shown in tariff item 10, is: “Grain, n.e.i. (this includes maize) : 2s per cental, and 1 per cent, ad valore.” Tariff item 6 shows :

“Animals, food for, n.e.i. (this includes oil cake, and pig fattening foods generally other than ground grain) : 13ritish preferential tariff, 21 per cent.; general tariff, 36 per cent.; including 1 per cent, primage.” On these products imported from South Africa a reduction of 3 per cent, of the duty is allowed. Prior to Ist December, 1925, the rate of duty on maize from South Africa had been. 6d per cental for some years. The present price of maize in New Zealand is about 7s a bushel, at which price it is not a payable proposition to use it for the purpose of hardening up the pigs for export. If the motion I have moved is carried and given effect to by the Government we would be able to land maize alongside the wharf at the main ports in New Zealand for 4s 4d a bushel. It would then be a payable proposition for the farmers to use the mairio in fattening pigs. The Hon. Mr Reed: Where would the maize be imported from? PRICES AND DUTIES. Hon. Mr Newman: From South Africa mostly, and from Australia and America. Oil cakes and meals would also be largely used. The present prices and duties are as follows: “Maize, from South Africa : Cost, £8 16s per ton; duty, £2 ss; cost, c.i.f.e., duty paid, £ll 3s. Cotton Meal Cake and Pea Meal Cake: Cost, £9 per ton' 20001bs f.0.b., Sydney; duty £3 3s; cost c.i.f.e., duty paid, £l4 16s. Soya Bean Cake: Cost, £l3 11s 3d per ton c.i.f.e. New Zealand; duty, £4 6s 6d; cost c.i.f.e duty paid, £l7 17s 9d.” ,On all these things which are required to' make the export of pig products a success, the New Zealand Govvernment is collecting duty; and it is for the removal of that duty that I am now asking. I communicated with the manager of one of the largest bacon factories in New Zealand, and asked him if he could explain why it was that there had not been more development in connection with this industry. His reply states:— “The one thing above others that is likely to retard our production in New Zealand, and the only obstacle' so far as I can see, is that of supplementary feeds. As you know, we have an abundance of skim milk, but it is an economical waste for pigs to be fed on that article only. Skim milk being a highly protein feed must have carbonaceous food to make a proper diet. 'ln order that a pig may extract what carbon he requires it has to take enormous quantities of milk- in order to extract what carbon there in the milk. It is at once seen that this is a very wasteful way of feeding, to say nothing of the digestive troubles which accrue to the pig. It has been said that to feed a pig with skim milk alone it requires tne capacity of a camel and the digestion of an elephant. New Zealand not being essentially a grain-growing country we must resort to importing our feed from other places, to supplement what little we have m this country, and I am quite sure that the first step should be the removal of any duty on fodder of this nature.” SOME BIG FIGURES. Just to show what Denmark is doing in connection with the bacon industry, I would like to mention that Denmark imported in 1924 .no less than

421,782 tons of maize, 159.,666 tons of barley, and an eilo'rnious quantity of oil calces of various kinds. The Danes show us an example which I think we might well follow, in putting on the free list the articles required for the development of this great industry. Denmark gets £20,000 a year out of England for pig products, and it appears that the quality of our stuff is quite up to the requirements of the London market. The deduction is obvious. There is no doubt about our being able to rear the pigs. New Zealand is particularly favourably situated for that both in climate and soil, and especially perhaps, in the fern country in the North Island, where nature lias provided one of the best feeds in the world for young pigs. The industry would have speedily an enormous development if only we could overcome the difficulty of being able to get more cheaply the grain for finishing the pigs off before export. 1 am not suggesting that the Government should give us any financial or other assistance in this matter—we want no assistance; but I am asking it to forego less than £IO,OOO a year it now gets out of . duties on maize and other pig-fattening foods. It is not for me to suggest in wliat other way the Government should get tho money ; but there are many other ways in which it can raise that sum without hampering the development of an industry which, if given freedom to grow, would put the farmers in a very different position from that they nqfv occupy in the course of a very few years, and would he of incalculable value to the whole Dominion. Honourable gentlemen who can look back, as I can, to tho beginning of the development of the frozen meat trade —about 1886—especially those who were interested in the mutton and lamb trade, will remember what a great improvement took place, in the position and prospects of the farmers here when the freezing industry started. Twenty years afterwards, when things were in a bad way, the dairy produce Industry started, and this raised New Zealand into a state of prosperity again. TRADE OFFERING.

Now we have a trade offering which would in a few years in all probability, become as valuable to New Zealand as either the dairy or the frozen meat trades. Our frozen meat trade is worth £11,250.000, and our dairy produce industry is worth £10,000,000 annually. A few years ago the dairy produce industry in Denmark was the most valuable to that country, but now, I understand, the pig industry is the most valuable. There we have an example of what can be done. Here in New Zealand we have everything in our favour, except that we are handicapped by not being able to get maize and other food products into Now Zealand without paying customs duty. It is not a good thing for the country that the necessities for such a trade ns this might become, should he taxed by way of customs duty. That sort of taxation is a real handicap on our industries. In my opinion New Zealand should become the food farm centre of the British Empire. We produce mutton, lamb, butter, cheese; honey, eggs, poultry and everything that is required in the way of foodstuffs, and the quality of our produce is superior to that of any other country,_ with the exception of Great Britain itself. Farmers are perfectly willing to take up this new trade provided they are given, a fair chance and on a basis which would pay them. It is for this reason that I move this motion. I trust that the Government will take a statesmanlike and broad view of the question, and, in' the interests of New Zealand, remove the obstacles in the way of what would probably become before long the principal export trade in New Zealand.