The Farm and Dairy

Waikato Independent, Volume XXIV, Issue 3230, 10 June 1924, Page 7

The Farm and Dairy

MORATORIUM EXTINCTION.

GRADUATED POLICY.

IMMEDIATE ACTION NECESSARY

For the future welfare of the Dominion :is a whole and in the interests of the front line industry of our country —primary production —it is absolutely essentia] that some provision shall be made to tide over the crisis in the affairs of the country that is now approaching.' Wo say crisis, not that we are alarmists, but is it not a fact that on the Ist January, 1925, some £70,000,000 to £100,000,000 of mortgages will'fall due'?' Of this huge sum no doubt a percentage will be met, but for the remainder some graduated scheme of extension will have to be engineered to save the country from one of the most serious setbacks in its history. The advocacy of a scheme for gradual extinction of the industry's indebtedness does not mean that the responsibilities shall be indefinitely cast aside and that the Mortgages Extension Act shall remain in operation indefinitely. It is undoubtedly true that the moratorium has created a policy of drift, as it were, with many of the producers, but now the time in which responsibilities shall, be looked full in the face has arrived.

It is certainly true that the presenttime is not a suitable one for the expiration of the moratorium ami should it terminate suddenly the country would see hardships and distress which would .put present conditions right in the background. In the press of the Dominion this last few months numerous cases have been brought home to us where farms have been left to the care of —rabbits, and .there will be hundreds more if their financial difficulties are not in some way -provided for or tided over for a few years.

That is the position the country is in at the present —a serious one indeed We know that a graduated scheme of extension is only a temporary measure —a gradual easing of the position, for it is generally recognised that a secured basis.for the country will not be established until the moratorium has been finally wiped out, but at the present time we are concerned that the present is not an opportune occasion for the sudden termination of all due mortgages in the Dominion. Certainly such a termination would be of considerable financial benefit to a certain section'and interests in the Dominion, but. wc are as yet an infant country relying solely upon the. primary production for our very existence and no situation should be allowed to be brought about that would certainly cripple the country for at least a decade. As we have aforementioned some gradual easement should be introduced along the lines suggested by the district member, Mr F. Lye, M.P., during the course of an address in the district a few Aveeks back. He stated: ."That a moral responsibility rested upon the Government to remedy a position of its own creation. Prior to the enactment of the Mortgages 'Extension Act in 19.14, mortgages were expiring yearly, or from time to time, but as the result of that Act. the whole of the mortgages protected by that measure have now got to be arranged for immediately upon the lifting of the moratorium. It was only fair and reasonable to expect that the Government would make the position similar to'that prior to 1914, and a time of grace be allowed on mortgages similar to the unexpired portion of (heir currency, and by so doing this would achieve the object of a gradual extinction."

Writing- on the above subject the editor of "The X.Z. Dairyman," in its last issue, strongly condemns the intension of the Government of terminating the moratorium by the end of the present year.

"'Resolutions are being passed throughout the country by branches and executives of farmers' and dairy farmers' organisations," says the N.Z. Dairyman, "stressing the necessity and urging the Government for an extension of the Mortgages Extension Act in some shape or other. As far as we can judge, this is as far as these organisations are prepared to go, and we would like to say here that, -well-meaning phrases, good intentions, and scattered efforts without united and concerted action to give effect to their resolutions, will help their cause little or none. There can be no doubt that the question of the moratorium will have to be fought out by the primary producers themselves, for neither active nor moral support, need bo expected from the Government or people of the Dominion. On the contrary, the city and business men have made it perfectly clear that they are against an extension of the moratorium in any shape or form. The Prime Minister himself has no doubt been voicing the opinion of Cabinet when he stated that, the Mortgages Extension

Items of Interest.

Act must definitely cease by the end of 1924. How little the producers' financial position is understood by city and business people is clearly shown by a statement made by the president of the Wellington Chamber "of Commerce last month. Mr Myers was reported to have said that he felt: sure that farmers by now had ifrade all their necessary financial arrangements for a, termination of the moratorium at the end of the present year. He suggested that plenty of opportunities had been given them, and if they had failed to avail themselves they had only themselves to blame. Mr Myers' opinion is no doubt shared by the average man in the city not in touch with farming matters. It shows not only the total ignorance but the lack of sympathetic understanding of the men engaged in business and finance towards the primary producers of this country. The 'opportunities' moit; tioned in Mr Myers' statement refer no doubt to the Advances to Settlers Department, the. advantages of which our friends in the cities have an exaggerated conception.'' THREE MILLION STERLING. BUTTER ADVANCE PAYMENTS. CO-OP. COMPANY'S OPERATIONS Speaking of the New Zealand Cooperative Dairy Company's affairs during the last: 12 months Mr W. G. Good, fellow, managing director, stated that the Company's butter output showed a decrease of (5.8 per cent compared with last season.'s manufacture, but there had been an increase in the quantity of cheese made of 14.0 per cent. Milk powder showed an increase of 4.5 per cent.

During the season the Company had dispersed £3,000,000 amongst its suppliers by way of advance payments. Butter suppliers had received advance payments of l(sd, and in view of the improved outlook for butter during the next few months it was now unlikely that the final prices for butter for the present season would be less than 1/0. GENERAL. The considerable loss sustained throughout Marlborough, in pinus insignis plantations was brought, up at a. meeting of the Agricultural and Pastoral Association by Mr C. G. Tesehcmaker, who expressed the view that it was due, to some form of blight. The matter evoked a great deal of discus : sion, some members believing that the death of the trees was due to the droughty conditions experienced this year. It was decided to ask the Forestry Department to make an investigation.

"Why is it that I cannot get a decent piece of bacon in New Zealand?" asked a visitor from England the other day, states the Manawatu Times. He continued that whereas at Home he was accustomed to the most tasty rashers, he had not partaken of any such delicacy during his six weeks' stay in the Dominion. In England it was the practice, he added, to discriminate carefully as to which, parts of the pig were cured for bacon, and he wondered if the same care wore exercised here.

The conviction that ihc.ro is money in trees is spreading considerably amongst Taranaki farmers. On one farm not many miles from New Plymouth the. owner lias been looking ahead, and with the assurance of £1 a tree when they are -5 years old he used all the a\:ail:ib!e- rough ground on his property for plantation purposes. During the last ebdi' years he has planted :m !<■>««! tliat) 1.00. "')ms insii'Tiis ( rces. 20,000 gums and :>OOO maerocarpas. A certain number have, of course, died, but as the farmer said, it seemed a sound enough legacy for his children.

A sketkh in an American paper states the case of co-operation very nicely. It shows the co-operative farmer on a motor lorry with, a load of milk products making a laborious journey towards better markets, the speedometer registering onlv 10 miles an hour. "If that fellow behind would only co-oper-ate with mo," says the driver, "we'd both make better progress." The fellow behind represents the non-co-oper-ating farmer mounted with his milk products on an old-fashioned sledge bumping over all the rocks of an unstable market. Truly, the non-co-opera-tive is a. drag on the industry—organisation and collective effort can alone assure success.