The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 1929. CUTTING DOWN COSTS

Southland Times, Issue 20834, 24 July 1929, Page 4

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 1929. CUTTING DOWN COSTS

In the course, of his interesting address to the annual conference to the New Zealand Farmers’ Union, the president, Mr W. J. Polson, explored the avenues offering means of cutting down costs, in a general survey of farming conditions, and he .showed that the possibilities offered by a general overhaul of the machinery production offer results making the operation well worth while. When the labour cosls borne by the farmer are taken into account, it may be true to say that they represent only a small part of his operating charges, but that would mean putting a severe restriction on the term “labour costs,” limiting them to the payments actually made by the farmer. This does not give a true picture, because when farming costs are being counted it is necessary to take into consideration the part played by the implements he uses and the services he requires to transport his goods to the market or to the shipping point. In all of these adjuncts labour costs count, and it would be interesting to find out whether the ten per cent, wages reduction Mr Polson mentioned would or would not balance a five per cent, reduction in the selling price of oats. The point we make is the cost of the services he uses and the goods he must buy for the operation of his farm, and, therefore, any scheme which will bring about reductions without lowering the value of his market is of moment to him. Mr Polson mentioned the Councils of Industry, which the Commission of Inquiry brought about in the Old Country by Lord Melchett recommended, and evidently would favour a similar move in this Dominion. Any step which will bring the forces of Labour and Capital into closer sympathy and clearer understanding must be of value to industry and therefore to the farmers. Mr Polson mentioned that it had been shown that a reduction of 124 per cent, in production costs could be effected in the boot industry by a re-arrangement of machinery. The prospect is alluring, because if this reduction could be secured there would be no need to reduce wages and no need to raise any tariffs, while the benefits would be reflected in other trades. If this can be done in the boot industry, it is fair to assume that economies could be similarly effected in other trades, and the accumulated savings would have a marked effect, not only on the cost of living, but on the returns which would accrue to the man on the land. When all the noisy talk about settlement and education has blown aside, the bare, stubborn fact remains that the essential requisite for inducing people to take up the land, and for turning moneyin the direction of acres is the betterment of the returns to be won by the farmer. Reduced production costs will help him, and if, as a counterpart of economies in industry, there are savings in the cost of government the position of the man on the land will be so markedly improved that the tide will set more definitely in the direction of rural interests. These Councils of Industry may not do all this, but they do offer some promise of better conditions, and greater stability in industry, from which the farmer will benefit. Mr Polson’s speech does not give a sure solution to the problem, but it is extremely interesting and attractive, while it does much good in emphasising the fact that the interests of the land are bound up in the industrial affairs of the Dominion, and that every economy effected in production costs must in the end come back in the shape of better conditions for the farmer, while, at the same time, it is to the interest of the farmer to see that anything in the nature of extravagance in government is checked.