MY COUNTRY NOTEBOOK

Otago Witness, Issue 3912, 5 March 1929, Page 66

MY COUNTRY NOTEBOOK

By

MURIHIKU.

(Special ?or the Otago Witness.) Many people round our way have been served with-notices to clear gorse. I do not think any sensible farmer who gets a gorse notice complains much about it. The weed has to be very noticeable before the department will take action. But when land has been abandoned for some time, the noxious weeds get away. We are told that one year’s seeding means seven years’ weeding. With gorse, one or two years’ seeding means everlasting weeding. So on the farms around there is a good deal of work to be done.

Yet you never see a man looking for work! In these days of unemployment, when men are specially paid to register all those out of work, and the Prime Minister is being urged to open more relief works, not many are Looking for work in the country. ' The plain fact appears to be emerging that people want work in the towns and will not go into the country. The relief wage of 14s per day certainly cannot be paid by the farmer, but with lodging, food, and £2 10s or £3 a week, any man should be better off anywhere in the country than in the town.

With all the talk of men leaving the land in New Zealand, and the blame being laid at the door of the Government then in power, I read with some interest in an American journal that to-day there were many fewer men on the farms in the United States than there were 10 years ago. The paper is a very reliable one—the Country Gentleman—which has the largest circulation of any agricultural journal in the world. I questioned some figures in regard to both men and horses. Here are the figures dealing with the diminution of man power: The figures used in our editorial, “ Machinery Row,” were round figures supplied by the United States Department of Agriculture from their annual farm census made by the Bureau of Agricultural Economics. From these annual reports which come out shortly after the first of each year it appears that the net loss of rural population to the cities covering the period from 1920 to 1928 was. approximately 3,000,000. * * $ Then in regard to the displacing of horses by other means of traction: Horses have been decreasing annually at a rather rapid rate in this country for something like 15 years. The total number of colts foaled each year is insufficient to maintain the present supply, and the ages of work horses have been constantly increasing for a number of years. The net loss in the eight-year period 1920-28 inclusive, is something in excess of 6,000,000. The tide for horses has not turned as many predicted it would. The number is continuously dropping. Almost no horses are now used on our highways, and relatively few in our larger cities except for delivery of milk, bread, and the few articles where stops are frequent and total distances covered are short. It is estimated that somewhat more than 30,000,000 acres of land which formerly produced food for horses have been turned into the production of food for human beings. To a large extent I believe this releasing of land for human food has been responsible for producing a surplus of marketable crops in (his country. * * *

All these changes have made things very hard for many people, and we realise that farmers all over the world are obliged to adjust their methods and their points of view. Our American friend writes interestingly of the general situation:

Farmers in this country are in a readjustment period. Some of them are finding it difficult to meet the conditions, others are getting along handsomely. In my opinion there is nothing basically wrong, and I do not see anything to be alarmed about in the changes that are taking place. In my boyhood days it required about 70 per cent, of the population on the farms to take care of our food — necessities. To-day only about 28 per cent, of the population is required for the purpose. The reduction in the number of people required has been going on for about 50 years, and I expect to live to see the time when not more than 20 per cent, of our population will be needed in agriculture. New machinery and new methods are relieving the pressure on man power in the production of food at a rapid rate.

Some people are being hurt by the changes and others are being helped. The same thing is taking place in every industry with exactly similar results to individuals. There is no way to stop progress and, looked at in a large way, there is nothing to be alarmed about. For the individual there are, of course, problems of a serious nature, but they cannot be relieved by mass action.

There are quite a good many farmers in this country who think Congress can

do something, but all the more intelligent ones realise that any amelioration for the farming difficulties has got to come primarily from individual initiative.

Which is all mighty interesting considering the source from which it comes —from a man who is taking a very broad view from a very commanding position.