FAULTY DISTRIBUTION.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLIV, Issue 14041, 26 April 1920, Page 6

FAULTY DISTRIBUTION.

There is a wide field for organisation in the problem of the cost of production, says a writer in a leading English journal. "Why." he asks, "does the farmer pav such high prices for his fertilisers, his feed-stuffs, 'and his seed? Why is the cost of distribution so heavy that the price of the farmer's produce is increased by anything from 50' per cent, to 150 per cent, befoi-4 it reaches the consumer? If we produce milk, with all the risks of labour, sickness, and seasons, the Milk Commission tell us that we do well, to secure Is 4d a gallon. But if we consume milk, we find that, although two-thirds of the risk at least, have disappeared and the farm may be only five miles away, we have to add on 85 per cent, to the amount the fanner, receives before the milk reaches the table—ls 4d a gallon as a return on our capital and our industry, Is a gallon to transport the milk from the railway station to the house. If we grow carrots, we are pleased if we can secure £4 a ton for them. If we consume carrots, wc are surprised if we can get them for Id a pound. In this case, it takes rather more to bring carrots from the railway station to our table than it does to produce them in the field. And so one might go on. If we produce meat, we get '7ss 6d a cwt. but if we eat meat, we pay anything from 4s 4d to 2s 2d a pound. In other words, the cost of killing, dressing, and distribution adds on over 150 per cent, to what the farmer received. It is worse than coal. A pound of strawberry jam costs Is 0-id, or, say, £ll6 a ton." How much of that £ll6 do we get for growing the strawberries? Two years ago I bought thousands of tons of marrows a pound or less. I see from tho current number of the "National Food Journal' that a paun'd of marrow jam would cost me ll£d. Nor do these •interesting examples cease :ts between the man who is simply the producer and jlie man who is simply a consumer of agricultural produce. The English producer requires imported maize. The best maize in the world is grown in Rhodesia. Even if the English farmer can get the maize he will have to pay about 78s per quarter of 480 pounds, and the Rhodeisan farmer I am told, is pleased if he can get 8s a bag of 2031b. A cargo of maize recently arrived at Cork, the value of which was £IO,OOO. The freight on this cargo was £27,000"