VOICE OF THE PEOPLE

Taranaki Daily News, 18 August 1934, Page 9

VOICE OF THE PEOPLE

VIEWS ON CURRENT TOPICS OVER-PRODUCTION FALLACY. LESSONS OF PAST EXPERIENCE. . (To the Editor.) Sir,—Permit me to offer a reply to the somewhat pathetic letter over the signature of appearing in your issue of the 14th. inst He instances the .irony of the saying, “Give us this day our daily bread,” while wheat and other foods are being destroyed in various parts of the world. Truly a terrible picture. Is there a remedy? Not so far, at any rate, and one thinks only great sorrow and distress will draw the nations together, for without unity among the nations no cure is possible. But what I wish to point out to W.J.M. is that over-production is one great cause of poverty, paradoxical, maybe, but a fact nevertheless. Of course, I know this should not be, but until some new system is evolved adverse conditions will continue and, sad to say, get worse.

To illustrate my point: In 1926 I spent some months in New gouth, Wales and motored with a friend through part of the wheat belt in the north-west I met scores of wheat farmers, and was particularly interested in returned soldiers who. were, placed by the Government on 700-acre blocks of land. It must be noted that wheat cannot be produced every year off the same landonly every second year. Thus on 700 acres you can only grow 350 acres of wheat The remaining half lies under fallow. I asked these soldiers if they were likely to succeed, and all gave the same reply: “Yes! If wheat does not fall below 5s a bushel.” V At this time New South Wales was producing an annual wheat crop of .29 million bushels. The authorities got a slogan going, “Grow more wheat Australia’s prosperity depends on wheat.” The result was that in six years the wheat crop rose to an annual, production of over 60 million bushels. Did it bring prosperity? No! It brdught ruin. Wheat fell to 18d a bushel. - The wheat farmers had no money to spend, and this in turn brought ruin to the towns. That is the result of over-production. It is a two-edged sword ruining the farmers and the business men and workers in the towns and cities. To-day every silo in Australia is jammed to the brim with last season’s wheat, and in addition much wheat is stored :in corrugated iron silos on the farms, and in three months’ time -the new crop Will be harvested. No one wifi buy the wheat. What, then, is the sense' in growing it? There is no sense; it is pure lunacy. As for New Zealand, our butter, meat and cheese must either be restricted or rot on our hands. Opponents of the quota may pooh-pooh as much as they like. Come it will, so we might as well face it. The nations are not . going, to buy our produce except in limited quantities. They are going to produce their own stuff. If in the process they run amok .and millions of their -pepple go short that is a matter for themselves and entirely beyond our control. Until our world system of commerce and finance is radically' altered it is certain that over-production can only lead to swift and complete ruin.—l am, etc., W. P. KENAH. Urenui, Aug. 17. MANGATOKI dairy meeting.. (To the Editor.) Sir,—l noticed in a. recent-edition of your paper the account of the annual meeting of the Mangatoki Dairy Company at which Mr. Astbury remarked upon the method of electing directors, '.and contended that the present system by which a supplier voted according to "the amount of butter-fat he supplied was unfair and should be altered to “one man one vote.” In my opinion he should receive the thanks of the whole industry for bringing forward such a sane and fair-minded suggestion. Is it any wonder that our industry has drifted into its present state when such a block voting system has been allowed to exist, and that many of our small shareholders have lost interest in our annual meeting?—l am, etc., / FAIR PLAY.' Hawera, August 16.