THE YEAR BOOK

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20421, 11 February 1938, Page 6

THE YEAR BOOK

The forty-sixth issue of the Official Year Book is a large and valuable work of reference. Several sections have been expanded and there has been added a brief review of the development of local government. The review of the legislation passed in 1936 will be particularly useful for that year saw many important changes made as the new policy was introduced. In the dairy farm survey is set out in tabular form the costs used in determining the guaranteed prices for the current year and there are also the statistics relating to that branch of primary production. It is interesting to note that tenant farming is not common in the Dominion. Farms returned as leased were only 5.5 per cent, of the total and with 3.7 per cent, of cases where share-milkers managed farms, also tenant-occupied in effect, the total was 9.2 per cent. In over 16,000 cases the farms were managed by their owners. There appears to be a discrepancy in the number of butter factories for 1935-36, the total being given as 142, whereas in the previous Year Book it was 197, but apparently the larger figures included both creameries and whey-butter factories, whereas the latest aggregate covers only factories registered. The number on this basis has declined by four butter and four cheese factories.

The more comprehensive survey of the dairying industry will enable interesting comparisons to be made in the future. The total number of males engaged in full-time dairy farm work was 34,723, of whom 8068 were employees, other than members of the farmers’ families. This will be a reliable basis for comparisons. The figures relating to the overseas trade of the country reflect the rapid recovery from the worst period of the depression. Taking the production year, which ends on June 30, as a basis exports increased by £20,400,000 sterling in 1936-37 when compared with 1931-32, and in the same time imports moved up by nearly £18,000,000. Then the Year Book will provide material for the coming debates on secondary industries. The number of establishments at the end of 1935-36 was a record for the Dominion, as was the total of the employees and the total value of the output was little short of the record established in 1929-30. “The statistics for the year 1935-36,” it is stated, “indicate the complete emergence of the factory industries of the Dominion from the depressed conditions that obtained in 1931-32 and 1932-33.” That would seem to afford weighty evidence that domestic enterprises had shared fully the general recovery of economic conditions. Especially in a general election year is it necessary to have authoritative figures bearing on practically every aspect of the national life. They are presented in the clearest form in the Year Book, and the written comment is also of great value. The publication will bear the strictest comparison with those of the other Dominions. __________ 3.ZUS*