VOICE OF THE PEOPLE

Taranaki Daily News, 22 May 1934, Page 9

VOICE OF THE PEOPLE

VIEWS ON CURRENT TOPICS SLAG IMPORTS TO TARANAKI. REAL REASON FOR DECREASE. (To the Editor.) Sir,—Last Saturday afternoon _at Eltham, in the presence of the Prime Minister and four hundred Taranaki dairy farmers, Mr. Wilkinson, in portraying the desperate position of the farming community owing to their farm mortgages and other charges, made use of a very striking and apparently effective illustration. He said that owing to the aforesaid mortgages etc. thirty thousand tons of slag had come over the New Plymouth wharves last year, but not a single ton this year. Had not Mr. Forbes been gifted with a perennial sunny and cheerful disposition he must have been moved to tears, when he < contemplated not only the, abject misery which the rural constituents of Mr. Wilkinson must be enduring through not purchasing their beloved slag, but also the pitiable plight of Polly and Co. denied of their favourite herbage tonic. No longer would they bask in smiling pastures of luscious clover and rye, but wearily would they wend their way over inhospitable hills which were scantily clothed in unappetising brown top and danthonia. Nurtured since infancy on this fair land’s most nutritious topdressed pastures, their .simple bovine minds would naturally revolt in sympathy with their stomachs with such churlish fare. Such a revolt , of man and beast must move the most case-hardened Government to speedy action.

But is there any such revolt? The explanation why no slag came over the New Plymouth wharves this year is not the presence of the mortgages, which were there last year also, but simply that the purchase of slag at its present price is uneconomic as compared with other top-dressing manures which are produced in our country, and which in addition carry a Government subsidy. Hence the farmers are buying alternative manures, arid the production of dairy produce is not being affected in the slightest degree. In fact the production of dairy produce in Taranaki this year has increased by 9 per cent as compared with last year, and the production of butter as compared with last year for the whole of New Zealand has increased by twenty-five thousand tons. No farmer who has any knowledge of simple proportion will buy slag at £6 10s a ton when he can get superphosphate at £4 a ton. The phosphoric content, which is the only nutritious ingredient in slag and superphosphate, is approximately the same—roughly about 20 per cent—so why buy a manure which is 50 per cent, dearer? Undoubtedly slag appears to suit Taranaki soils better than districts with a smaller rainfall, such as Waikato, where super and. lime have always been the main top-dressing manures. In spite of the many tests that have been applied it has never been definitely proved that slag has any clear advantage over super, even in Taranaki. The main reason why slag has been so much used in the past in Taranaki is that until recent years slag was as cheap or cheaper than superphosphate, or any other wellknown top-dressing manures. Moreover, until recently we did not have large superphosphate producing plants in or handy to Taranaki as we have now at Smart Road and Aramoho, and the freight charges therefore are not now such an important consideration as they were before these works were established. Moreover, since the raising of the rate of exchange and the depreciation of the English pound as compared with countries still on the gold standard, an imported article cannot compete on the same terms as formerly with an article that is produced in New Zealand. The bulk of cur slag at present comes in the first place from Belgium or the north of France, both of which countries are still on the gold standard. To buy Belgian slag it takes £2 of our money to buy £1 worth in Belgian currency of Belgian slag. The chief loser over the substitution # of super for slag is not the farmer, but the New Plymouth Harbour Board, which is losing approximately £6OOO a year if we take the average purchase of .- v slag at thirty thousand tons, and the merchants who sell slag. Instead of a commission varying from 10s to 14s per ton, which they received on the sale of slag, they have to content themselves with a commission of approximately 5s 6d a ton on the sale of superphosphate. Notwithstanding, however, the smaller commission, one of the largest slag importing firms in Taranaki was public spirited enough to inform its clients that slag at the present price was not good buying, and that they should purchase super instead. Had this explanation been made by one of the four • hundred farmers who were present at the Eltham meeting to Mr. Forbes, not only would Mr. Wilkinson’s spectacular illustration have fallen decidedly' flat, but Mr. Forbes would have been saved any worry as to keeping up the production of our dairy farms—l am, etc., SQUARE DEAL. Stratford, May 21.

SOUTH TARANAKI R.S.A. (To the Editor.) Sir,—l will be pleased if you will kindly allow me to write again in reference to the South Taranaki Returned Soldiers’ Association. I honestly think that Mr. Jones must have been joking when he inferred that the present secretary is the only reliable man to be found among the returned soldiers in Hawera. If I am mistaken, then Mr. Jones owes numerous returned soldiers an apology. In reference to his remarks anent the custodian, Mr. Jones forgot to mention that in 1933 he and his executive voted the custodian a bonus of £lO, evidently for services rendered. Now that the Manaia members have formed a branch of their own, the membership of the local branch will suffer a further loss of about 30 members. It will be interesting to know what Mr. Jones and his executive intend doing to revive the membership. To my way of thinking, the decreasing membership shows a decided lack of confidence in the present committee. I would suggest that the convener of the meeting called for nonmember returned soldiers invite Mr. Jones to attend. —I am, etc., ANOTHER EX-MEMBER. Hawera, May 21.