PRIMARY INDUSTRY

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6803, 5 January 1929, Page 12

PRIMARY INDUSTRY

Herds and Flocks Growing Apace •MORE MEN EMPLOYED In a recent editorial the New Zealand Herald states: “The statistical report on agricultural and pastoral production for the year 1927-28, just issued, has already been commented on briefly, but- beneath the list of figures for occupied holdings, flocks, herds, farm equipment, and all the other factors leading to production and export lies the material for considerable further reflection. It is an ironic circumstance that during the recent election campaign, when it was cried from the housetops that farming was on the retrogressive way, these figures carrying a refutation of the assertion in every particular, must already have been compiled, and been almost ready for publication. Whether they would have made any difference had they been available for quotation is a question that cannot be answered; but they would certainly have made the way easier for numbers of candidates. Now, when the past contest is already being rapidly forgotten, they are still useful. Some of the doubts cast on the future of the primary industries are heard perennially, irrespective of the immediate political outlook. The main thread of argument is that fanning as a whole, is an'enterprise of very doubtful financial stability, that its difficulties are dependent less on over-valued land, the price of money, or the returns received from the sale of produce than on the farmer’s actual overhead, the cost of production. The corollary to this is that, the established farmer being in such a parlous position, it is idle to speak of new. settlement, especially op land that is not graded as firstclass, according to the rough-and-ready method of classification generally used. It is seldom necessary to go far in search of this thesis, proclaimed with emphasis, sometimes almost with passion. The statistical returns provide the commentary on tho other side. Theory suggests a stagnant industry with its future in danger. The cold facts of the statistician show the flocks to have increased by nearly 1,500,000 in a year, and to have reached a level never equalled in the history of New Zealand shcopfarining; dairy cows too, have outstripped the previous record by 29,000; other farm animals, too, have increased in like manner. Fertilisers, to the extent of over l,ooo,ooocwt. more thaq in the previous year, have been applied to nearly 500,000 more acres. The horse-power of farm machinery has increased to a huge extent, and, most significant of all, in view of the allegation most freely used in the election campaign, there were some 4300 more male farm employees in 1927-28 than in the previous year. Are these the characteristics of a moribund industry? Suppose the farmer were in the position often sketched, that of just holding on, never knowing when ho would not have to throw in his hand and seek a livelihood somewhere else, would these things be happening? Production might conceivably increase in those circumstances. It would bo the result of more intensive effort, longer hours of work, tho elimination of all possible waste, the handling with maximum efficiency of every existing resource on the farm. Then it would be characteristic of an industry operated to the top of its capacity within existing dimensions, but not of a growing industry. The increase in the material of production shows that the farmers of New Zealand are extending their plant—as proved by tho growth of flocks, herds, teams and machinery—and are intensifying their efforts as well, by using more fertiliser and employing more workers. This is indicative of a very different position. It means that farming is doing far more than holding its own, that within tho limits of land already in occupation pt is a living, growing industry, based, in the rank and file, on confidence in the future and faith in its destiny. The annual statistics as a whole can be viewed with deep satisfaction. They prove definitely ,as already said, that farming, within the limits of existing settlement, is moving forward steadily. One point calling for attention is that occupied holdings in the year reviewed increased in number by only SB. Here the lack of new settlement is revealed. Admittedly the problem of developing unoccupied land is different from that of fanning holdings already settled. What, prospect, then, is offered for progress in this field? Assume, as is very often asserted, that very little first-class land remains to bo occupied; accept, too, the present-day currency of the term first-class, is there not opened up a most encouraging prospect for the utilisation of land now neglected? The conclusion is quite definite that land already occupied is being made to produce far more stock, and to deserve the application of more intensive effort than it was a few years ago, or than was imagined not many years earlier than that.. Why, then, should not unused land prove responsive to the touch of new mothods, and be made to produce on perhaps a smaller but still profitable scale, where it is at present producing nothing? Farming land is returning enough to justify more capital being put into the business. That is the plain message of the statistics. Surely there is warranty in that for tho business to extend its Held. There is evidence of better farming and more enterprising farming. This should open the way to more fanning, in

6thcr words, more settlement, and an accelerated rate of progress in a «ountry that is doing marvellously despite the reckless statements to the contrary that have been far too popular of late. The time is ripe for a forward move. The stimulus should come from the justifiable confidence the latest statistics of production ought to inspire. *