LOCAL EXPERIENCE

Otago Witness, Issue 1805, 25 June 1886, Page 7

LOCAL EXPERIENCE

(Contributions detailing exptriencts tn/ann una station ma7iayement are heartily welcome for inser~ tion under this head.) Why Farming; l)oes not Fay ot tin 4 , Present time in Otago. Editor WiTSiwb. — This is v question easier asked tlian answered, and i:i order to reply to it, it it* necessary te find out. the cause of khu depression an farasOit effects the f.iPiuwrs. and by looking back on fche pint by to learn some Jes-ous for guidance for the future, f liou't intend in this paper to go into the question of gond or bad farming or what it, jV vi.-st to i^row in owier to make a farm pay, but Minpij to touch upon .sucb public questions as affput all farmers alike. One of the chief causes of the <-lppi-«<--sion in farming is that land a few year's ago reached a price far above its intrinsic value. Mhi iv business competed tor iln (Wisiwiion with the bojia f.d<i farmer, never taking into consideration its actual worth, but looking on it as a speculation, out of which f.bey could make ji profit by reselling. The vnuroquenra has be<ii, as we all know, that many have been ruined and many are now merely nominal owners of laiid for which they cannot pay the interest, and on which the mortgagee has not foreclosed for the reason that he cannot sell the land at anything near the value of his mortgage, and canuot gee anyone to take it off his hands at a rental that wiil give him interest for money invested, so he leaves things as they are, waiting and hoping for better times, which, as far as the value of land is concerned, will in ray opinion be loiii* in oom-

ing. i Then again houa Jide formers huve been heavily handicapped by the Government, who have leased and sold land on deferred payments to a large number of people at prices that iv these times renders it impossible for them to meet their engagements, and while the fanner who is in the hands ofprivate individuate is liable to be turned out of his farm afe a moment's notice, those uiider Government simply refuse to pay their rents, and the fact; of their nuaibers. and having a considerable, voting power, renders it almost impossible to denl with them as a body ; so that as long as they combine together and refuse to pay they cauuot be forced. Consequently the farmer holding his laud under Government can and does compete successfully with farmers who bought or leased thuir laud before the deferred-payment system came into force, for the re.JKon that they have paid littl« or nothing for the land ; and, moreover, I Uvinly believe that the time is not far distant who'n lessees of the (Jrown will apply for and obtain by virtue of their voting power a title to their land. Aft?r all, this is only a repetition of what has happened in the past. The old saying "possession is nine-tenths of the law" is a very applicable one, and by what; other title do half the landowners in the old country hold their land ?

As stated above, a great deal of the land in this country is heavily mortgaged ; indeed, in a great many cases more money has been advanced on it than it will bring for a great many years to come, and the sooner landowners and mortgagees realise that they cannot got blood out of a stone, aud that their tenants aud the mortgagor* caunot carry out the engagements they enletcrt into

in better times, and substantially reduce their liabilities in the shape of interest or rent, the better it will be for themselves, and us, all. Land has depreciated in value from fifty to sixty per cent, so that a man who engaged to pay eight per emit of money on land some three years ago» is now actually paying 16 per Cent on its present value, and no farm in the world can stand that. It i.->, of course, to be deplored that men should not be able fco fulfil their engagements, but when a farmer has spent years of work and all his capital on land with the full intention of carrying out his bargain, and owing to circumstances over which he has no control, fiuds himself ruined and in debt, surely he is deserving of some consideration. The losses sustained b> farmers must, in ali fairness, be shared by landlord?* and mortgagees ; and until that takes place, farming Will not prosper here. I firmly believe, moreover, that the depression we have gone through will do great good. Men will learn to value land for its intrinsic worth, and will, for a long ti.xic to come, refrain from rushing into speculations. I firmly believe we have seen the worst ; there is a marked rise in value in all descriptions of produce ; but wo must not entertain wild hopes of values rising high, for with India for wheat, and South America for wool and mutton, I do not think there is the slightest chance of it. What we htw c to consider in, at how low a price we can produce so :u to be able to compete successfully with other countries. One great drawback to our doing so is, the high freights charged \ on our railways tor the carriage of produce ; the Government seem \ o forget that the railways belong to the people, and were constructed for the j public good. I fetl satisfied that were the Go- I vernmeut to reduce freights for farm produce and passengers to nearly one-half what they are now, that although there would doubtless be a ! deficit for the first year, yet in two years the ' lines would pay better than they now do, and the country would be considerably enriched by the larger amount of produce that would be exported. Both Government and capitalists are too apt j to look upon farmers as a class of men from whom as much as possible is to bo draini-d iv the shape of taxe;; and commissions, forgetting that they are killing bh^ goose that lays the golden egg. In tl.i- soil is undoubtedly the tuie source of all wealth. Givo us New Zealand farmers cheap freights, mid cheap money, and with the soil and climati- we have, we can compete ' with the world; »jul weigh v* down with the heavy taxes, hm'f) lroighls. tltiai- tmiiwj, dear I labour, and we may yot feei the last straw that ! breaks the camel s back. It is time our legisla- ; tors awoke to this* I'act, anil instead of going to Wellington to talk a lot of •' bosh," as in too many cassis is done, put their heads together, i aud devise bomo other means of fostering the only industry tbat cun pull this country out of her troubles. — Yours, &c,

Faumek.