POSITION EXPLAINED

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19377, 15 July 1937, Page 10

POSITION EXPLAINED

TARANAKI FARM HOUSES REPLY TO CRITICISM DUTY OF GOVERNMENT “Thanks, Mr. Hodgens,” was the comment of Taranaki advocates of a compensated price for butterfat when they read his opinions of farm houses that he had visited in Taranaki and they repeated that view to a reporter. At the same time they and other farmers agreed that the conditions which had appalled him were by no means as general as his interview indicated.

Delay in mortgage adjustments was not considered the principal reason for the poor houses of some farmers. Holding of sub-marginal lands, lack of capital, inexperience, rising costs and, most of all, years of low prices were more vital factors, most of those interviewed thought

In some rare cases the state of houses was a reflection of the type of people that lived in them. Lack of finance during the depression had seen many homes go short of painting and necessary repairs, which the thrifty were able to carry out when the clouds broke a little. Again some of the old houses were legacies of the boom years when any sort of a house was good enough for land-hungry purchasers.

They did not need Mr. Hodgens to tell them that some rural dwellings were a disgrace, said one man, who recalled that months ago the South Taranaki executive of the Farmers’ Union had urged that a State building scheme was 'equally as necessary in the country as in the town, if not more so. It was perhaps a more vital question than Mr. Hodgens had said, because of its effects on the farm labour situation.

Mortgage Adjuslment There was agreement that mortgage adjustments would do a great deal to meet the difficulties of a fair proportion of farmers.- Several considered that Mr. Hodgens’ remarks were a reflection on the Taranaki Adjustment Commission which had a

task of huge proportions before it and was doing its best. “Mr. Hodgens is a member of the Government and it is in the Government’s hands to rectify those conditions,” said Mr. H. E. Blyde, president of the North Taranaki executive of the Farmers’ Union. “The farmer has for many years been attempting to show the rest of the community that the returns obtained from his work are, generally speaking, not sufficient to give him the standard of living to which he is entitled. “Many farmers have not, for ttnansial reasons, been able to give tne attention to housing that they shoufd have done. If, however, they were receiving sufficient income, there is no doubt that improvements would be effected to the majority of farm houses.”

Mr. Blyde suggested that Mr. Hodgens should refer his observations to the guaranteed price committee.