VOICE OF THE PEOPLE

Taranaki Daily News, 19 December 1933, Page 7

VOICE OF THE PEOPLE

VIEWS ON CURRENT TOPICS

THE PROBLEM OF ABUNDANCE.

WHEAT AND DAIRY PRODUCE.

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—ln a previous contribution dealing with the problem of abundance 1 maintained that the present price level was not a passing phase, but a permanency, owing to the law of averages as represented by climatic forces being nullified by the advance of agricultural science. Over forty years ago I followed threshing machines in the best wheat belt of both Victoria and New South Wales, and the largest yield we met was that of a farmer in the Echuca district whose yield averaged four bags per acre over a , two hundred acre crop. Both the big Melbourne daily papers of that time, the Age and the Argus, sent their representatives to the district to write the matter up, so uncommon was the yield. But speaking generally the average crop runs out at about six bushels per acre, and this only on the best of land well inside the safety belt. 'ln . 1932 Australia grew 18,000,000 acres of wheat with an average yield of about 14 bushels per acre, and 12,000,000 acres of this amount was grown On land which five or ten years previously was regarded as useless. Agricultural science had converted arid wastes into waving horizons of golden grain but this is only one side of the'story. The other should make the New Zealand dairyman do a lot of hard thinking. The fact is'that 49,000 tons of butter was produced from land which three years previously had been under wheat cultivation—a staggering leap from 127,000 to 176,000 tons in three years. We are ever reclaiming the good land and wheat is clearing the desert from the tropics to the Arctic Circle. What is true of Australia is true of Canada, America and Argentina, and for the first time in 200 years wheat, man’s staple food, is drought, blight and blizzard proof. If he is going to escape the fate' of the rice ridden East, he must adopt some form of regimentation, or planned production. But in either case there will be no room for mortgage values as they are known to-day. Henry George would seem to have come in at the back door.— I am, etc., - - FRANK BELL. Midhirst, Dec. 18. AGRICULTURE FOR GIRLS. (To the Editor.) Sir,—l had the pleasure of attending the prizegiving ceremony of the New Plymouth- Girls* High School on Friday, ■ and one item in the principal’s report I thought particularly interesting. Reviewing the position of girls seeking employment, and after mentioning the seriousness of the virtual closing of the teaching profession, Miss Allan brought before the notice of parents the great possibilities of certain branches of agriculture as a means of livelihood for girls. I have always had an admiration for the energy shown by this school in working for what it requires. It is thoroughly in keeping with its reputation that immediately it was seen that positions available for girls were becoming more difficult to find, action should be taken to meet the problem. I was therefore very pleased to see that a start had actually been made at the school with the training of girls in the elements of poultry farming, and I wish-the Venture every success. - ’ .

It occurred to me later that this idea need not be confined to the school. There must be many girls in Taranaki who would prefer work on a poultry farm, with the monetary independence it would mean, to idleness or even work of other kinds. The work on such a farm is not hard by any means, but the matter would need organising properly. Surely there is- some person, or body of persons, capable of arranging for a start to be made, no matter how small. The venture need not even be confined to girls. A boys’ farm would be equally suitable. Hoping that the matter may receive some consideration.—l am, etc., INTERESTED. New Plymouth, Dec. 18.