UNECONOMIC FUNCTIONS.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 March 1932, Page 12

UNECONOMIC FUNCTIONS.

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —An" explanation of our position can ! be made with the aid of a small diagram, which I must ask you to imagine. Above a base line draw three concentric circles, one very small, the second larger, and the third larger still. The third will enclose the second, and the second the first. Take the base line to represent the coast, the small half-circle to represent the Government." our cities and towns, and the next to represent the, limit of cultivation. By that is meant that beyond that line, on account of distance from ports, poor quality land, low prices for products, high costs of requirements, and general difficulties of working, it is not an economic proposition to occupy and work the land. The outer half-circle can be taken to represent the utmost limit of cultivation, and for the movement has little 'bearing on the subject. Now the occupants of both half-circles are one unit, and it is obvious that if the occupants of the smaller half-circle do not perform their functions in an economic manner, or if they are guilty of greed as well, too great a percentage of the farmer’s income is withheld from him, reducing his purchasing power, and his ability to employ labour, and to improve his holdings, and thereby increase his production. This m st of necessity make many holdings on the margin of cultivation unprofitable to work, and we find the margin contractings thus creating what is now called the deteriorated land problem. It is not only the merchants, traders and professional men that cause the restriction of income and all that it implies, but the multiplication of Government inspectors, social services, etc., out of all proportion to our age as a country and our need. This in a strictly agricultural and pastoral country is more crippling than it would be in a country with a large manufacturing export. trade. We may 'be likened to having a corned beef income and a champagne appetite. Now the inhabitants of the second half-circle are powerless to control the market price of their produce or the actions of the inner halfcircle, as they represent but 36».per cent, of the population, yet produce 97J per cent, of our wealth. The only way for an' improvement is for the farmer to develop a system of co-operative buying, on a wholesale basis, of as many of his requirements as possible; to employ his own bakers, smiths, etc., to perform the services he requires; in other words, to do for himself what the towns! are now doing for him in z an uneconomic manner.

There was the germ of the co-opera-tive' suggestion in the Dairy Control Board, but the point was seen 'by the commercial community and their intense propaganda and our bad luck in starting the scheme at the time of the English coal strike succeeded in killing it. "Even now the dead dog is dragged forth and flogged as an explanation for bad prices. This suggested co-operative movement may 'be combatted 'by asking if the towns are bankrupted by such action what is to become of the people thrown out of employment? The answer is, “Give us our requirements at a reasonable rate; perform your functions in a thoroughly economic manner, and you leave the producer an income with a surplus to spend on improvements, labour, goods, etc.” This would also mean that the margin of cultivation would expand, absorbing more and more people as lowered costs made possible the working of abandoned country. This shift of population from town to country is quite possible. ,In pre-war days the country population was about 60 per cent., not, as now, between 3'B and 40 per cent. Just a few examples of boosted costs. To assist an industry which owing to inaccessibility of supplies has become uneconomic a duty of as high as 10s per 100 feet is placed on imported timber. This means that every stick of timber used in building a house, a pig-sty or for a shaft of a hayrake is levied to help keep about 1000 men in employment. A modest house in town or country is made to cost anything up to £lOO more than P. should. In the case of a worker's cottage the extra cost would represent 3s or 4s a week extra rent. With cement an almost perpetual tax is levied through interest on excess cost of construction in the case of 'buildings, and through rates in the case of bridges, kerbings, etc., in country and town. Boots and many other articles are protected in a like manner. Briefly, all industries that cannot exist on the protection accorded by a revenue producing duty are uneconomic and tend to mak© .farming un-

profitable. This form of protection robs the British workman of a portion of his work. Agreed, uneconomic handling of goods due to unnecessary high overheads, etc., also have the same effect and lessen his power to pay a reasonable price for our butter, cheese, meat, wool, etc. Our home market is said to be our best market, but in effect we are paying an outrageous price to the home ■market to consume our produce. —I *m, etc., “UMSLOPAGAAS.”