CASUAL NOTES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 182, 3 July 1936, Page 8

CASUAL NOTES

(By “The Watcher.”) TRADE FIGURES. The export figures for the first four months of 19i>6 show mat the . Gominion lias deiinitely “turned the corner'’ into Prosperity Street. 1 lie totals are nearly millions of pounds above and beyond the same lour months for last year, and to that must be addeu the 25 per cent, exchange. The exact figures are:—l93s, £19,302,920; 1936, £24,759,122. It may be stated at once that no election result, change of government, nor legislation passed comes into the count. It is the result of the ordinary working ot the producers of all kinds. And it is very satisfactory indeed. Looking over tho items, a few notes will be of interest. Butter showed an increase of £700,000; cheese remained about level, ail increase ot £15,000; fish, honey and gelatine all went up; beef rose £30.000; lamb fell £400,000; so also did mutton £200,000; hut pork rose by £MO,000; sausage skins fell bv £IOO,OOO, but dried milk rose by nearly £60,000 ; apples rose by £20.000; skins ol all kinds by over £50,000, and wool by over 4J millions; gold bv about *>l4, ■ 000; in fact, there was a wonderful increase right- through the list. The dairy farmers are learning vapidly the economic value of the pig. The market in Britain for baconers is practically unlimited. We sent in the four months only £1970 worth of bacon and ham as against £721,960 of pork. Later we shall learn how to breed and cure pigs for hams and bacon, and trey will he a new asset of great value. That is one thing upon which the Agricultural Department and the farmers should at once concentrate. LAND TAXATION. One of the problems with which Air Savage lias declared he is now wrestling with a view to legislation is the taxation of land, in brief, lie declaies that as one elfect of his legislation will be to raise the price of land he will see the speculator does not make a profit; if he does so, the Government will take it from him. This is a matter that will require to he carefully looked into. Scattered all over New Zealand are more or less deielict. farms, the owners of which have not had the means to keep them in histclass order. Naturahy they have deteriorated in value. They will n 0" come on the market, ami may be sold by the owners at (or even less than) the Government valuation. The outgoing owner will receive, (perhaps) Ins equitv, and the incoming owner will have to lace the expenditure of putting the place in order. Fencing wilf be a large item. Provision ot up-to-date buildings will be another. Un a farm of 1000 acres a couple of thousand pounds 'may have to be added to the cost to bring the property up to a proper standard. (Suppose- the buyer paid £6 per acre, and after spending £2 on it, sold it at £lO. "Would any sane man say lie was not entitled to his profit for his labour and investment of capital, etc? let ilr Savage appears to tliiiik he lias given the added value with his guaranteed prices, and that the Government is entitled to the whole increase of value I There will be some heavy fighting in Parliament over this legislation if it is brought down. IMPORTS OF LIVE STOCK. One of the questions which Mr TVNash will have to face in England will be that of removing the embargo on the export of live stock from Great Britain to New Zealand. There is of course room for a difference of opinion on the subject, owing to tne prevalence of foot-and-mouth disease in some districts —not all of the Mother Country, and the fact that Lord Bledisloe, himself a farmer and possessed of five years’ experience ot this country, is a strong advocate ol the removal, is very significant, whilst the unanimous decision of New Zealand veterinary surgeons at their recent conference must also carry great weight. We gather Australia has no such embargo, and that it is thus possible for New Zealand studmasters to import animals through Australia, bu of course this is not the same as dnect importation would be if.it were started. There are three great . checks against the danger of importing diseased animals: —First, at London theie is a 28 days’ quarantine; second, there is the forty days’ sea journey ; and thirdly, a quarantine at this end which we believe is two months. This makes altogether a continuous segregation ot about 16 weeks, whereas it only takes about four weeks lor the disease to show itself. . It must have made the mouths ol our studmasters water to read that a week or two ago at the .Australian sales one ram brought a price ot Lio o and another £BOO. We never reach- oi approach such prices tor livestock in New Zealand, although we have over 30,000,000 sheep. Yet we have already proved that there are markets for our sheep in distant countries. During the first four months of this year we exported sheep to the value of £9121, and this shows that for the rmht class of stock—probably mostly Corriedales—markets can > found. Australia of course specialises m the Merino, but of that fine breed we have only 25,000 entered m our flock-book and an examination of the flock rams on sale at any New Zealand sale will satisfy any observer that wo "have not yet begun to breed for anything hut lambs tor the English market. Of purebred Romneys we have. 1/8,000 and of Southdowns 118,000 in the flock book, but of Corriedales only 49,000. This question of the removal of the embargo must be considered by the Government before Mr Nash leaves tor England. Perhaps it may be desirable' at first to test the matter by experiments, some shipments being allowed on trial. If successful the imports could be extended. Certainly the present writer lias no desire to see any i isles undertaken. With our population of | over thirty million sheep and over tommillion cattle (including our dairy herds of about two million on which the country depends for £20,000,000 of exports) it would bo a fatal mistake to take risks. Possibly the quarantine at this end might he extended by a month as a further guarantee of safety But the Minister of Agriculture in Britain, Mr Walter Elliot, is a strong man, and is determined to assist m every way possible the tanning nidustry. The statistics show that during 1935 there was an excess of £20,402.00k of exports (almost entirely farm products) over our imports from the Mother Country. He will want to see this huge gap lessened by exports of live stock. A regular trade has been kept up between England and Argentine and other South American countries, and we have never heard of foot-and-mouth disease being carried to them. WHAT TO DO WITH LEISURE. * When all the new laws are in operation, a large part of the population will have Saturdays free, and the question is being raised by the Minister of Internal Allairs (Mr Parry), what are they to do with their spare time. Of course there will be football and cricket for the afternoons, but what about the mornings? The Minister has forecasted a revival of horseracing—a kind of farmers’ picnic meetings all over the country. Of course they would have the totalisator, and the Ooverii-

meut may be looking to those as an extra source of revenue. Then there will be whippet races, and the more-or-less gambling form of sport. And no doubt other organisations will be found in larger numbers, such as rifle clubs, cycling, and so on. 'Whether New Zealanders will he any better in any way for leisure thus spent is a matter of opinion, though no doubt many will spend their Saturday mornings in gardening and thus improving their homes, leaving the afternoons “as usual.” MR JUSTICE CHAPMAN. New Zealand lost one of its finest sons by the death of the above gentleman. Born in the Dominion, lie reached the ripe ago of So years, and died respected alike by Bench and Bar, and the whole population. He was not only a great lawyer and judge, hut also a scientist of standing. The pink manuka was named after him. An Otago man, he proved one of the best of the fine race of men who. emanating from the Southern City, have enriched New Zealand.