PROBLEMS OF THE LAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20332, 13 August 1929, Page 11

PROBLEMS OF THE LAND.

difficulties of farmers.

" REWARD NOT GREAT ENOUGH."

The reason men would not go on the land to-day was because the reward was not great enough, stated Mr. F. Colbeck when speaking upon "Some of the Farmers' Problems" at the weekly luncheon of the Auckland Rotary Club yesterday. The vice-president of tho club, Mr. S. J. Harbutt, presided. Mr. Colbeck said New Zealand had unlimited markets, received good prices for its products and managed its business well, but the real trouble lay in the fact that tho cost of production was so high that it left a very small margin of profit. That high cost was not duo so.much to high labour costs as to other tcauses. The farmer already worked 12 to 13 hours a day and utilised the labour of his wife and children as unpaid workers. "New Zealand has indulged in an orgy of borrowing and secondary industries are asking for further protection," said Mr. Colbeck. "This means that costs are raised indirectly as well a3 directly. Interest and profits are correspondingly hv creased and passed on to the consumer." There were several industries whose only hope of salvation was a subsidy and the propping up of those unprofitable departments was becoming too heavy a drain upon the resources of those that paid. Mr. Colbeck claimed that if the present incidence of taxation was persisted in, farms would become fewer, until it would not be profitable to farm any hut th« highest quality land. A vote of thanks was accorded to tht speaker.: