TOWN AND COUNTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19391, 28 July 1926, Page 8

TOWN AND COUNTRY.

Sir—l have lately read many good letters on the above subject but none of tlieni to my way of thinking have suggested any reasonably prompt solution of the problem with which many primary producers are now faced. The primary producers are now facing it but all others' will soon be facing it- more or less if it- is not quickly remedied. I refer,, of course, to the prohibitive cost of everything needed by the farmer against 'the comparatively poor- and in some cases' ruinous returns he receives for his produce.. High rents, wages and other charges are a great cause of lack of employment. Local manufacturers'; cannot pay them and compete with imported British, American or other goods even apparently with protective duty freights, wharfage, etc., in their favour. Of course, lack of up-to-date plants may in many cases add to their difficulties, but thai is up to them. The high prices the farmer - has to pay for his goods, plus freight, leave him absolutely unable to pay high wages , for .necessary work on the farm, therefore the work remains undone and land deteriorates. Country work should be .more highly paid than town work—to make up to the worker for comparative isolation, lack of footpaths, trams, pictures, etc.—but the towns have , made the pace altogether, too hot, paying high wages and getting them back from the consiimer and the farmer consumer, being unable 'to " raise " in his turn, has to carry the lot, leaving, his position precarious in the extreme. The country has had its boom and subsequent - crash of deflation. The towns have boomed and continue to boom, being artificially kept up by Arbitration Courts, Advances to Workers, etc.. etc. The vicious circle like' a game of poker goes on interminably. As a gentleman writing in' the Herald"' the 'other day said: " Farming must be saved from the outside." The fault is not with the industry nor with the men in it, but, though it must be done from the outside, it is only the farmers can do it, and only if they are united. New Zealand's finances are going to be in a very bad way if something effective is not done shortly towards remedying the farmers' position. Neither agricultural banks nor a Farmers' Party in Parliament (unless very.strong), will put things to rights quickly. What we need and must have is cheaper costing and the sooner the better for New Zealand as a whole. Delay means more men will be going under and walking off,' swelling the numbers of the unemployed, and leaving land to go back to scrub and blackberry instead of breaking in fresh land as they would if costs weie not prohibitive. We must export more, therefore, we must increase, rather than'reduce, the number of men—real workers or» the land. Will the farmers move or take their shearing like sheep 1 f . Fleurbaix.