WHEAT AND THE GOVERNMENT.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18893, 7 January 1927, Page 11

WHEAT AND THE GOVERNMENT.

io uaa idito» or th« pkess. iiir, —In commenting on the above subject, J do so with a good deal oi reluctance on account of the publicity that, has already appeared in your valuable paper on the wheat-growing question, i could not, however, allow the statement alleged to have been made by the Minister for Agriculture (Mr Hawken) to the deputation of tho Farmers' Union to Wellington to pass unchallenged. If in his opinion tho growing of wheat in New Zealand j is unessential, what wouid ho

suggest to substituto tor it as far as Canterbury and Otago are concerned? I have, yet to learn how sheep alone can be successfully made to pay on land valued at from £'3o to £4O an acre with interest at 0J per cent., and as the oat industry has practically collapsed on the advent of tho motor-car, what in the name of goodness are wo going to grow for a living? As for dairying, butteriat at a shilling a lb would be out- of the question, as three-quarters of the land in Canterbury is unsuitctl

for that purpose. When the Minister talks about wheat not being an essential industry for Now Zealand he must have forgotten all about the anxiety tho scarcity of wheat caused the Government when Mr Massey was our leader during the war period. Mr Massey on that occasion found that to import wheat from Australia would cost about lis per bushel, so we farmers who held leasehold properties were circularised ] to the effect that all cropping res trie- ! tions were cancelled indefinitely to! enable us to grow more wheat and that the price would be 7s Gd per bushel. The result was that even some runhoklers grew it to help the country out of a very grave difficulty. Surely* that doesn't look much like wheat not'being an essential industry. No, Sir; for a Minister to look upon any primary in- i dtistry as unessential without substituting something equally profitable, as far as New Zealand is concerned, is

only looking for trouble. How does the Minister propose to equalise our adverse- balance of imports over exports if the farmers are continually up against high rates of interest anil lon- prices for their products with all necessities required on the farms always on tho increase? Trusting that -Vfr Hawken will take a broader view and remember that he holds tho portfolio of Minister for Agriculture for New Zealand and not of the North Island only, ■where dairying and sheep alone pre their principal source of revenue.— lours, etc.. / STILL A WHEATGROWER.