STATE DAIRY FARMING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22628, 16 January 1937, Page 15

STATE DAIRY FARMING

Sir, —"Clod Hopper's" contention in the Hkrald of January 4, that 16.62 d per lb. for butter-fat would suffice to pay 2s 3d per hour and extra for overtime is an under-estimation of fanning costs, except, perhaps, under very favoured circumstances. However, be admits the necessity for increasing the present guaranteed price in order to bring the primary industry up to equal terms with other services. It is certainly absurd that the industry of foremost economic importance to the Dominion should, in comparison, receive so scant remuneration and encouragement at the hands of a Labour Government. Presumably the difficulty is that with the chance of butter selling at an average rate for the season, of, say, lOd on the world's markets and the Government guaranteeing Is o}d, where would the deficiency come from? If it is uneconomic to pay the present prices, how can a deficiency of, • say, £15,000,000 annually be met if the cost of production were doubled? The "gross" income of many connected with the farming industry is far below the remuneration received by many already em;«ioycd by the State. On the other hand, out of their gross returns, 70 to 80 per cent, and often more, of the primary producers' income is swallowed up in farm expenses. To suggest, or even to imagine, that the Government could carry on the farmer's business as economically as it is done now is probably due to a lack in the realisation of the cost entailed in bringing into a state of productivity a fullydeveloped and equipped dairy farm. Imagine the State breaking in land and carrying on farming, and all the Ministerial departments, boards, secretaries, professors, inspectors, overseers, and thousands of overpaid, underworked, and unnecessary heads and employees. True, in any community we exist principally upon one another, and if one section is getting more than it is equitably entitled to, then another section has to make up the deficiency. That is what is the matter now —too many public servants, professional men, business concerns, sustenance men, and so on, and not enough workers and exporters connected with our primary industry. and the gap here, be it understood. is widening daily. However, provided they pay the farmer a fair remuneration may State control prosper thereby. It may, perchance, clear up some of the parasitical and for ever overgrowing city populace, and there mav then remain loss necessity for and

certainly less chance of taking advantage of and imposing on the individuals who have paid their all and pill in endless labours opening up and pioneering the farming industry. Neither would it then be possible to enslave and drive the women and children to keep their homes together. Men, women and children will work incessantly if they think they arc preserving their independence and tiieir own, but they certainly would not do so for the benefit of the State and the community unless they were recompensed for doing so. Cl-ODCRUSHER.