COSTS OFF FARM

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 13 April 1939, Page 6

COSTS OFF FARM

SUGGESTED SOLUTION PLIGHT OF THE FARMER ; R EVIEW BY SHEEPOW NER “Something in the naturct of a crisis | seems to have been reached in the | economic position of the sheepfarming industry.” states the president of the Poverty Bay and East Coast Sheepowners’ Union, Mr C H. Williams, in j a report to be submitted to the annual ; meeting. "Considerable all-round drops 1 in the values of all produces, accompanied by a persistent rise in production costs, have reduced profits of any but the best quality land to vanishing j point, with the result that immense areas of third-rate or marginal lands are actually going out of production. The present year is likely to see this process accelerated. The problem of arresting this trend is one of vital im- I portance not only to the individual j farmers concerned, but to the Dominion as a whole, for the material welfare of our country depends very greatly upon the prosperity of the primary-rvnducing industries. After showing mat under present world conditions the old solution, increased production, was unsatisfactory. Mr Williams said that there was. however. in his opinion, an alternative to the reduction of costs on the farm, and that was reduction of costs off the farm. “It is in that direction that restoration of stability to our industry lies. Every factor that tends to increase unduly or unfairly the burden upon the land should be scrutinised carefully and the burden reduced. The iniquitous system of financing half of the hospital deficit by means of a land rate should go by the board immediately and there are other directions too num- j erous to discuss in this report in which relief can be afforded. “I understand it is the intention of the Government to overhaul the whole , taxation system of the Dominion during the coming session." said Mr Williams. ‘An endeavour will be made to secure some measure of relief for our industry, more especially in respect of local rates In my opinion no equitable distribution of the tax burden is possib’' until unimproved value as a basis of calculation is abandoned in favour of productive value. “In the case of the graduated land tax it is a fact that a minority of farmers holding considerable areas of land with a high ratio of unimproved to capital value are overtaxed to the point of ruin, while a vast number of others in much better circumstances escape practically tax free. The amount demanded from our industry in the form of land tax is not in itself an intolerable burden, but its distribution is grossly unfair. It is. perhaps, not impossible that the Government will decide to abandon the graduated land tax altogether.”