FENCE POST SHORTAGE IN FAR NORTH

Northern Advocate, 29 November 1937, Page 11

FENCE POST SHORTAGE IN FAR NORTH

Despite the fact that fence posts have been transported from the Far North to other parts of the country, great difficulty is being experienced by local farmers in obtaining posts for their own purposes, remarked several members of the Kaitaia branch of the Farmers’ Union at its monthly meeting to-day. Mr A. W. Masters suggested that the Government should help in the matter. There was ample timber in the district, much of it half-dead totara. hundreds of years old, which would be better cut out. The Government could find men for the job, and the posts could probably be bought for about £6 per hundred. At present the inability to obtain posts was causing serious inconvenience in farmers, he contended.

Most Serious Problem

Mr R. H. Michie doubted whether the Government would assist in any way. He quoted instances from the King Country, where contractors had left the bush in a “deplorable mess.”

The chairman, Mr T. S. Houston, also declared that the shortage of posts was one of the. most serious problems facing the farmer to-day.

Mr Masters: If there is any possibility of the posts being exported after they have been cut, we should adopt the tactics of the Westfield Freezing Workers by organising a sit-down strike to prevent export from the district.

Tiie matter is being taken up by tlu union.