WHAT CHEAP MEAT MEANS

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 2310, 1 December 1925, Page 5

WHAT CHEAP MEAT MEANS

DOES PROTECTION PAY,

One of the main objects of the Government and of all people Interested in the progress of the Dominion is the increase of production. In this connection it is important to consider whether the present favourable treatment of wheat growers is justified. On the ground that it is desirable that New Zealand should grow enough wheat for her own consumption, Mr Nosworthy has been* giving very material assistance to wheat growers and flour millers. Wheat, is grown almost entirely in Canterbury and a portion of Otago, as the soil ,and climate of the North Island are not suitable for the crop. This means that the whole people of the country pay perhaps Id .extra for each 21b loaf in order to benefit a comparatively small number of South Island farmers. The point of importance however, is thai there is no chance of building up an export trade in wheat from the Dominion. We consume less than eight million bushels of wheat per annum, and the average production is . below that figure. The limiting value of the production of wheat, even und/r t!ie artificial conditions prevailing at present, is therefore £3,'000,000 if we put the price of wheat at 7/G per bushel. Now, let us suppose the wheat growers and millers are not protected except by the fairly high cost of importing from Australia or Canada. Wheat and its products would then be cheap and the pig and poultry industries would boom. Pork, btcon, eggs and poultry would be cheap and the cost of living- would be. reduced, But thii4 benefit is of little importance compared with the unlimited possibilities of the export of pork, bacon and eggs. Denmark at present receives more for bacon than for dairy produce, and conditions here are more favourable for pig rearing than in Denmark, except that pollard is too dear. At the last census there were 146,000 families keeping hens in this Dominion, and cheap wheat would mean an enormous Increase in egg production, making a large export trade possible.—" The Budget.”