THE CASE FOR THE FARMER.

Southland Times, Issue 21288, 8 January 1931, Page 3

THE CASE FOR THE FARMER.

To the Editor. Sir,—We hear a lot of talk about dear land and dear money and that octopus the money-lender. We also hear a' lot of talk of the repudiation of debts, but if it is right to repudiate public debts it is right to repudiate private debts, including wages and salaries. The right to repudiate one debt cannot be claimed without the right to repudiate all debts. Most of those who lend money are those who have saved up a few pounds to keep themselves in their old age and to keep them out of the Old Man’s Home. Those who borrowed the money have made use of that money and if they are honest men they will pay it back to those from whom they borrowed it. The more people talk of repudiating mortgages and debts the worse it will be for everybody because people will neither risk lending money nor will they speculate if they see no hope of getting either their interest or principal. A man would be a fool to do so. He might as well enjoy his money while it lasts and go down to the bottom of the sea with the rest when the ship of State founders. Even when a man tries to carry on a business of his own he is pestered on all sides by union officials and Government inspectors. The country is over-run with them and they both vie with each other to prevent him from carrying on successfully. There is a great deal of talk about reducing the price of land and increasing wages to give the public a better chance to purchase the farmer’s produce. Somewhere about 95 per cent, of the money coming in to this country comes directly out of the land. The consumer pays no more for his butter, cheese, meat or wool than the farmer gets in competition in the world’s markets. He competes in the same market with the Chinaman and the Hindoo. The farmer receives from the consumer no more for the raw material than the overseas buyers are prepared to give him in competition with the world, including the coolie conditions so much talked of by the Labour Unions. But when the farmer buys back some of this raw material in the shape of clothes, boots, etc., he finds that although he has sold enough wool to make a suit of clothes for 2/6 he has to pay £8 or £lO for the same wool made into a suit. High cost of production increased by a heavy import duty is responsible for this. The farmer has no wall to protect him. It is the same with his implements, wool-packs and manure. Everything the farmer has to buy, including labour, is fixed at inflated values. Everything he has to sell is at bedrock or even below bedrock values. Why should a farmer be asked to work under coolie conditions? The farmers are only asking the Labour unions to accept the same conditions as those on which they have to exist themselves. The standard of living is much higher in the towns than it is in the country. Is the farmer not entitled to the same standard as the town man? If farming is such an easy money-making concern why do farmers’ sons leave the country and go to the town or anywhere rather than on to the land? It is not because they are afraid to work. That the farmers’ sons can hold their own with anyone can be proved anywhere.

We hear a great deal about dear land and dear money. Land in its native state is not worth anything. If a man had 200 acres of land of second class quality given to him in the rough for nothing, by the time he had ring fenced it and divided it into paddocks, put buildings on it and ploughed and tile-drained it, the land would indeed be dear, and I am doubtful if he could sell it for anything like what it cost him. Under present conditions he would be a heavy loser. I consider that 95 per cent, of New Zealand’s land is second, third, fourth and fifth.class. There is scarcely 5 per cent, which will grow heavy grass and stand white crops without heavy manuring and nursing. «■ ■ There is much advice given to the farmer by the city folk. If any of them think they can do better than the average farmer or if they think they can make two blades of grass grow under the present conditions where the farmer can make only one, now is the golden opportunity to show the world what can be done; for I can assure them that nearly every farm in New Zealand is for sale and not above cost price at that. There is also a lot of talk about high interest, but money can still be obtained on first class security at 6 per cent. A man with a fixed salary of £lOOO per year is receiving an equivalent to 5 per cent, interest on £20,000, or 10 per cent, on £lO,OOO. This must be found by the employer before a penny can go elsewhere. Take a fanner with 200 acres of good second class land. If he manures it well he can keep about 500 breeding ewes giving 100 per cent, lambs. He employs a man at the minimum wage of 14/6 per day, which means interest on £4OOO at 5 per cent. If his man is worth £2OO the farmer himself should be worth at least that sum. The following would be a rough sketch of his balance-sheet.

Assets. ~ £ 500 ewes’ wool at 4/- each .... 100 500 lambs at 17/- each 425 525 Expenses. Wages to farmer 200 Wages to man 200 Manure and seeds 100 6 per cent, interest on 200 acres at £2O per acre 210 740 There is no allowance here made for deaths amongst stock and replacing rams, wear and tear and and replacement of implements, keeping up the flock with young stock, replacing horses, horse-covers . and harness, repairs to fences and buildings, shearing, chaff cutting or for paying land tax, county rates, Power Board and hospital rates —all of which amounts to, a considerable sum. So you see, Mr Editor, it is not all sunshine with the cocky. His man takes nearly 5 per cent, on the capital value of his farm. This man has no responsibility. He has to be paid no matter who eke goes without and he pays no land tax, county rates or income tax. The fixed salary men are in a better position still because they know the exact amount coming to them and should be able to adjust their expenses according to their income. But they must live up to their last penny and cry out for more. It is not good to be a pessimist, but an optimist under present conditions is either a rogue or a fool. He is like a sea captain, driving his ship full steam ahead through a dense fog on a rocky coastline with nobody on the look-out and he himself sitting with his arms folded smoking a fat cigar and saying, “Why worry?” If his ship should pile up on the rocks he will say. Who would have thought it?” No, Mr Editor, it is no use comparing 1913 with 1931. Our taxes have been doubled. It is costing more than twice as much to govern the country. Our timber is getting further back and more costly to work. Our flaxmills are idle because it won’t pay to run them even if the green flax were obtainable for nothing. The Government and the country are living in a Fool’s Paradise and the Government will have to cut down expenses, as Sir Harry Atkinson did by starting with their own salaries and working downwards throughout the Government departments •which are all over-staffed. The Arbitration Acts will also have to be repealed. The longer we put off the day of reckoning the longer it will take to recover and the sooner the people realize the condition the country is in the better it will be for all

concerned. We have been borrowing money to pay interest, but this cannot continue. We will also have to realize that if the farmer is driven off the land the city man will fare very badly and the secondary industries will not amount to much. The Arbitration Court by its stupid awards has been constantly raising the cost of living, or in other words the cost of production. Unless something is done and done quickly there will be more trouble than this country has ever seen before. Unemployment will steadily increase and production will decrease until everything is at a. standstill. The cost is too high and cannot go on. Everybody will have to reduce expenses, work more and play less. We will not find ourselves in an enviable position if we become a defaulting country and that is what will happen if we are not extremely careful. —I am, etc., “ONE OF THE OLD TIMERS.”