PRODUCTION AND PRICES.

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 18026, 22 May 1930, Page 7

PRODUCTION AND PRICES.

' (To the Editor.) Sir, —At a recent gathering of the Rotary Club, at which the main feature was an address by Mr W. J. Hoidsworth of Auckland,-;Dr. Annett made a couple of statements which I would like to see amplified. One statement was that “It would be a good thing to swamp, the. English market, with our dairy produce,” and the other that “The sooner we got. to rock bottom prices, the-better.” I can quite understand that these statements will meet with the approval of merchants, middlemen and consumers, but does Dr Annett expect the endorsement of the farmer? Can it be denied that if last season our export of produce had been. .25 per cent.,' less, the; collapse of the markets would have been averted! Increased production is not brought about without increased, and greatly - increased, oost. If a farmer carrying 50 cows increases his herd to 75 he has to pay extra labour, extra cost of •manure, extra cost of electric power, etc.; and after doing so he finds that the very fact of the increase has depreciated his financial returns. It is the gross cash return of our produce that benefits both the farmer and the whole Dominion —not the quantity. Every thinking man must admit that there is a point below which butter and che.ese cannot be produced without disaster. We cannot, for instance, home to compete in price with margarine. No business man would increase •the output of any kind of commodity when the price of that particular commodity failed to produce an adequate or - remunerative return. Yet this is what'the farmer is asked to do. It must be recognised that the few markets open to us are dangerously near the point of saturation,' and - " ithough it would be very nice from a viewpoint to supply consumers with butter at 9d a lb., unfortunately we cannot do so and ■remain financially buoyant.. If every farmer next season fed 15 per cent, of his - full cream milk to pigs and the right kind of calves (either steers or heifers) • i believe, that his returns would be greater, and Heaven knows that the way a lot of our calves have been reared in the past Is nothing short of scandalous. . Many farmers are slowly beginning to realise that, the more we produce the less we get especially when the extra cost of increased production is considered. Perhaps Dr Annett and the advocates of increased production will show us how it will benefit the farmer. I should like to voice my appreciation of Mr W. J. ■.. Holdsworth’s desire to put the.farmer on a better footing. Coming from a - city man it is -all the more gratifying because unusual.—l am, etc., W. P. KENAH, Hautapu, May 19, 1930. •