MAN ON THE LAND

Taranaki Daily News, 27 December 1929, Page 20

MAN ON THE LAND

NOT PAMPERED CHILD REPLY TO P. AND T. MEN. ■ HIGH COST OF LIVING ’ Auckland, .Dcceniber 23. “No particular resolution is quoted, but I am, quite stire that there is no official statement Of the union that would justify the accusation of being ‘uncharitable' and. aggressive)’ and- ’ that nothing is further from the minds of the farmers than any such attack on their fellowworkers/’ said Mr. A. A. Ross, provincial president of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union, in replying to the recent statement of tile Auckland Telegraph Economic Committee. .‘‘On September 17 last,” continued Mr Ross, “the following resolution was passed by the provincial executive, referring to a published statement by the Post-master-General on the salaries of his staff.- ‘This executive has not sufficient evidence to enable it to express any opinion as to whether the staff of the P. and T. Department is receiving adequate remuneration. It is, however, of opinion that the only sound method of improving the position is not in starting another round of the vicious spiral by increasing salaries, but in tackling the matters - that are preventing, a reduction in the cost of living, and so increasing the effective wages,’ “It will be seen,” says Mr. Ross, “that the union does not express any opinion as to whether the salaries are adequate, but it does hold the view that if-wage-earners generally are not able to maintain a fair standard of living, a general rise in wages is no solution of the difficulty, because, under the present. conditions the increase is to a large, extent, nominal and is very soon cancelled by an increase in costs. The union also considers that the proper solution for the department is to remove as far as possible all causes of high costs and so increase the purchasing power of wages. “The statement goes on to make an attack on the farming community, with an accusation of receiving aid from the public funds to the extent of over £1,000,000 a year. It can be clearly demonstrated that insofar as these aids are a charge on the general taxation, they are nearly all finally passed on to the farmer, so that he is himself paying for the assistance that he is. getting. The statement conveniently forgets the penal railway freights on imported goods, the freight concessions and the Customs ;rotection for the benefit of the local manufacturers’ industries, which altogether must amount to many times the gifts to farmers. The Farmers’ Union takes the stand that farmers can get along very well without any of the so-called gifts from the public funds, but everyone else must do the same. •

“The statement also blames the farmer for lack of business ability, buying land at boom prices and building freezing works,” declares Mr. Ross. “So far. as foolish speculation in land w r as concerned, the city man did probably ■as much as the farmer and lost proportionately as much. To put this up as the cause of the farmers’ troubles to-day is to take a very superficial view of the situation. The statement says that the days of high prices are past and that, so far as prices in the world’s markets, where he has to sell his produce, are concerned, the farmer knows only too well, but he also knows that,- under our economic system, prices in New Zealand, where he has to do his purchasing, have been tending upwards, and under such conditions it does not matter what a man has to pay for his land. He has only to hold it long enough and he will find that he has paid too much for it. “This condition of falling world’s prices and rising New Zealand prices is, we are convinced, the prime cause of the farmers’ economic troubles, and neither high wages nor dear land are in the picture. As to losses on freezing works, it is a matter of history that considerable extensions, encouraged by cheap Government money in some cases were made to meet war conditions, and farmers cannot be held specially to blame for this. It was much on a par with the huge losses made by many ordinary business concerns as a result of the post-war slump, and was practically unavoidable.

“In the sentiments expressed in the last paragraph of the statement, concerning the necessity for the intelligent co-operation of all parties and the intelligent study of the economic problems confronting us, I heartily concur. The only comment I have to make is that all too often temporary expediency and not sound economics is the controlling influence in the conduct of our public affairs.”