FEED SHORTAGE IN NORTH

Southland Times, Issue 24106, 20 April 1940, Page 14

FEED SHORTAGE IN NORTH

POSITION ALMOST DESPERATE

GRAIN FROM AUSTRALIA WANTED “Because of the total absence of winter feed of any description for stock, I am strongly of the opinion that you should allow either Australian, Algerian oats or Tasmanian oats, whichever is the cheaper, into Canterbury and North Otago free of duty. Present prices of New Zealand oats are approximately 3/9 to 4/- a bushel on trucks, ex Southland, and very few are offering. It is impossible to obtain bran supplies. It is definitely safe to say that the position is becoming more desperate day by day, and, because of the shipping shortage, your immediate help in the above direction will be of national and Empire advantage.” The above telegram was despatched by Mr T. D. Burnett, M.P., to the Minister of Agriculture (the Hon. W. Lee Martin) and the Minister of Industries and Commerce (the Hon. D. G. Sullivan). “The position is well nigh desperate, ’ Mr Burnett informed a reporter. “Never in all my experience in South Canterbury have I found the province entering the wintei' so short of winter feed for stock. So many factors have been responsible—the diamond-back moth, the blight, the white butterfly, and the, drought conditions earlier in the season. “The danger is that farmers will be forced to sacrifice their best conditioned ewes,” Mr Burnett concluded, “by being compelled to send them to the freezing works owing to the scarcity of feed. ’ On discussing the matter with a business man who is in close touch with the farming industry, the reporter was informed that, although the Government had agreed to meet farmers by concessions in railway charges, the fact remained that the price of feed, even in Southland, was almost prohibitive. The importation of oats would do much to help the sheep farmers through what promised to be the most disastrous winter experienced for upwards of 40 years. ___________