IS FARMING PROFITABLE?

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13724, 14 April 1908, Page 6

IS FARMING PROFITABLE?

SOME INTERESTING FIGURES. [by TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] Chbistchcrch, Monday. The. Farm Labourers' Union have a, chance of proving that their demands will not, as alleged by many farmers, render farming largely unprofitable. At yesterday's hearing of the dispute Mr. H. E. Peryman, a well-known farmer, of Taitapu, put in a balance-sheet showing the result of his last year's work. He stated that it was simply a profit and loss account for the year ending September 30, 1907. The total income from produce, grain, seeds, sheep, and pigs was £1656 9s, and the expenses (including wages, rent, and interest, plant written down, etc.), £1352 3s 2d, leaving a profit for the year of £304 0s lOd. No allowance was made in the balance-sheet for interest on capital invested in stock. The item " rent and interest" referred only to property. The item "charges" included such charges as blacksmiths' accounts, general repairs, saddlery, sacks, and living expenses generally. He had five sons working in connection with his farms. His balance-sheet showed that the growing of grain entailed the most expenditure, and if wages were increased that- was the branch that he would drop. He considered that he had made really nothing by his farm because he and his sons would have earned £577 a year in wages and food. It wages were increased he would immediately sell his farm, and his sons would have to get something else to do. The interest he allowed on capital invested in bis land was five per cent.