FARMERS’ TROUBLES.

Waipa Post, Volume XXI, Issue 1200, 2 February 1922, Page 2

FARMERS’ TROUBLES.

PLIGHT OF THE DAIRYMEN.

GOVERNMENT IS CONSIDERING MEASURES.

The difficulties being faced by many dairy farmers were mentioned by 'the Leader of the Opposition (Mr T. M. Wilford) in the House, in the course of a question which he asked the Prime Minister. Mr Wilford quoted a report from a Palmerston North paper stating that a farmer appearing in the Magistrate’s Court on a judgment slum mo ns had said in evidence that he was penniless, and had not a shilling to buy bread. His ruin was caused by the fall in the price of butter-fat. His milk cheque for December, 1920, was £2OO, while that for the same month in 1921 was £45. His interest cost him £SO a month, and as he depended solely on dairy produce for a livelihood his December cheque was not sufficient to pay interest. Mr Wolford asked that the Prime Minister should consider the position of the dairy farmers. There were 40,000 of them in the country, owning a million cows. Would siome means be devised whereby they would be given time to pay their interest ? Mr Massey said that the matter was under the consideration of the Government at the present time. He did not think he had ever tackled any problem which was more difficult. He did not think that there were so many dairy farmers in this* sort of trouble. He admitted that there were some | who were m trouble, while others were doing fairly well. The drop in the price of butter was a very serious matter.

Mr Wilford : It means a difference of £12,000,000.

Mr Massey repeated that it was a very serious matter, but the Government had been moving in connection with it. He had a very valuable report from the Valuer-General, who had been visiting some of the dairying districts He had been able in seme cases to .nduce the mortgagee to meet the mortgagor, but this was not always possible. He had received

numbers of letters/ from dairy farm-

ers, some of them very pathetic in their nature. The Government was considering the question, and everything that could be done to meet the situation would be done.

Another question bearing on the position of the man on the land was asked by Mr W. T. Jennings (Waitomo), who asked the Minister of Lands if he would consider bringing down a Fair Rents Bill next session dealing with the price of land. Mr Jennings said he had received letters from the Waikato and the King Country complaining of the prices ruling. He quoted one where a man wishing to commence poultry farming had -been asked £125 per acre for land five miles from Hamilton.

The Hon. D. H. Guthrie staid that it was not his intention to bring down a Pair Rents Bill either now or next session. Action was being taken in another way, as would be seen when the Land Laws Amendment Bill came down. A third direction , in which the pre-sent-day difficulties are affecting farmers was mentioned by Mr W. S. Glenn (Rangitikei), who read a letter from the Marton Farmers’ Union complaining that farmers were not permitted by the Income Tax Department to set losses incurred at farming against other sources of income in their income tax assessment. There were some farmers, it was stated, who had lost very heavily by their farms, and yet were shown by the Department to have a taxable income. Mr Massey said that he understood th»s to refer to farmers who owned businesses or to business men with farms. This had always been a difficult question, and he had not been able to deal with it yet. It was a matter which he intended to look into during the recess with a view to bringing down a Bill next session. He did not pledge himself to meet the trouble, however.