DETERIORATING LAND

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23272, 15 February 1939, Page 14

DETERIORATING LAND

RESULT OE HIGH COSTS DRIFT VIEWED SERIOUSLY FIGHTING LOSING BATTLE [by telegraph—OWN correspondent] PALMERSTON NORTH, Tuesday That the deterioration of second and third-class land was becoming most serious was emphasised at to-day's meeting at Marton of the Wellington provincial executive of the Farmers' Union. The cause was stated to be the high cost of working land and low returns. The president, Mr. Hammond, said farmers in the back country had become alarmed at the marked deterioration that had taken place, and occupiers of such land were, in the face of rising costs and falling prices, fighting a losing battle after years of labour. Farmers on second and third-class country woro experiencing the plight of seeing what they had slaved for slip from them. Members expressed the view that rising costs were responsible for land going back. Higher wages and transport costs could not be met out of reduced returns. The Government's policy of high wages was destroying the productivity of second and third-class land. Mr. Hammond said the whole matter would bo fully discussed at a meeting to bo held at Makirikiri, which would be attended by the Dominion president, Mr. W. W. Mulholland.