FARMERS' CONCERNS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 107, 30 January 1920, Page 7

FARMERS' CONCERNS

NEED FOR MANURES PASTURES ARE DETERIORATING SHIPPING PROBLEM SUGGESTIONS FOR PRIME MINISTER

Two questions of supreme interest to farmers were spoken of by a deputation from Wnirarana which waited on the Prime Minister yesterday. The deputation was representative of tho farming industry and tho freezing companies, i:nd they asked tho assistnnco of the Goyornment in rcgar-J to tho supply of. phosphates and tho regulation of shipping freights on tho conclusion of the commandeo'..

Mr. Hugh Morrison president of the Wnirarapa Fanners' Union, said that look phosphates wore in very short supply in tho Dominion and those obtainable- wero lo be had only at very high cost. The future of New Zealand deptnded on the abilit; of the country to j produce more, but the- price of fertilisers was rising so high that agriculture was I not a paying proposition; Tho price of. ! ground rock phosphate nt Auckland was M per ton, which meant thnt tho cost of ic at the freezing works at Masterton ;.was about .£lO ft ton.

' Mr. Massey: Where does it come from? Mr.Morrisori said that ho understood that'it came from Australia, and that' originally it cam© from Ocean Island. He hoped that the Trimc Minister might le able to secure for New Zealand* a quantity of phosphate from Nauru Island. There was also a strong demand, which the supply could not meet, for basic dag, which, was essentinl for the top-dressing of pastures. There wero a number of dairy farmers in the Bush District.? who" had to dress their trass every three years, otherwise the English grasses went out and the native glasses came back depreciating the carrying capacity of the land considerably. He understood that the supplies of basic slag in Britain were needed i?-,r agriculture there, but he asked that in the event of any extorts being made fiom Britain thev should not go to ■foreign countries but that the Dominion should have preference.

They also wished to ask th<> Prime Minister j,,bout the shipning business. Tho shipping control would cease 'wry soon, and tliev were very anxious about tlr? freights that New Zealand would he called unon to pay on its produce. They esked whether something could not be done by the Government in regard to Iho control of freights so as to keep them down to a reasonable level. Failing Grasses. Sir .Walter Buchanan said that the urgency of tho need for manures in this country -was well understood by the Prime Minister. .By far Me greatest hardship from lack of manures would occur in the Auckland district, but anyone who knew anything of the soil of that tract of country extending from Pal liser Bay to Tauranga. country which on account of its splendid climate had been one of the finest grazing areas in the Dominion, knew also tha,t it was going back with moro or less rapidity into native grasses. In territories such as Canterbury, where the lnnd could bo ploughed, this process could bo stopped by resowing the land in grass, 'but this was not possible in tho hilly land of tho north. There were many small farms where the native grass<>s were taking charge again, and once.the native grasses w-ere in possession no manure would restore the English grasses. Time was therefore an important factor, and any. thing the Government could do to ?et manures would be a great boon to tho farmers. Some of Hie districts of the North Island . had. beeii, laid down in English grasses bv surface sowing after n burn of the/bush or fern, and in some of these districts the character of the pastures had completely changed in ie. cent, years. Native "trasses were taking possession, and nothing but manure would arrest the deterioration which was taking nlace. In, sonm districts the soil was holding the English grasses verv well indeed. But even in Hawke's Bay, one of our finest grazing districts, the native erns«es were fast taking possesion. It had been suggested that it might be posslide to tret a boat to eo specially to Nauru Island for phosphate. The Shipping Rings, He thenght it a pity that the British Government had not continued the commandeer for ono year longer, but it appeared that .the producers must now look to_ their own interests with regard to shipping. The shipning companies had for some years past been perfecting their organisation, and tho producers were now wholly at the mercy of combines of shipning comnanies. For this he blamed the British Government very largely, for during the war period it had been encouraging the formation of trusts in Bri(ish industry and commerce. As.snon as the commandeer was over the shinning companies, now 'all combined, would be able to demand whatever freights they J iked. J,nrd Tnchcapo had complained bitterly that the companies were beta? interfered with by the Commonwealth owning ships, and the papers h?d eontained news of ho* the cotnoanies wee reverting to their old practice of com. pelling people to use their line* by a svstem of rebates, openiimr aaainst the, ' Commonwealth shins. The shipning com. bines would be able to defy comnetition in the New Zealand trade, unless the Government stepped, in and afforded the producers some protection. Tt was quite clear to him that there had been altogether too much talk about partnership of the Dominions and the Mother Country, but not enough action. In all busiconcerns very little regard had been tiaid to the interests of this and other Dominions, for tho formation of these trusts and combines had* not only been allowed by the British Government to go on, but had actually been fostered.

, Mr. Massey: I don't think that ought to he said.

Sir _ Walter Buchanan: "T don't say that it has heen intentional on the Dart of the British Government." He went on to sav that at this time..when the commandeer was soon to cense, the shipping nnestion should he fared as far as the Government was cnpable of doing it. More About Fertilisers. Mr. Milne (Wellington Meat Export Company) said that fertiliser manufacturers would havo the greatest difficulty in supplying adequate quantities of manures for next season. Tho prico of rock phosphate was much higher than it was last year, and a still more 6erious mattcr was the lack of superphosphate, Bock phosphate, heing insoluble, was not suitable for manures for turnips and rape, for which superphosphate was absolutely essential. 110 understood that the Australian Government had prohibited llm export of superphosphates. He asked that the Government use their influence to secure some supplies from Australia. The manufacturer* might be nblo to gcf,fiimio supplies from Japan, but in tho past they had always depended on Australia, and at present they were rather in a quandary. There, was also a difficulty filxiut potash. For the past five years thcyhnd not had any potash in their mixtures, and the hmd was getting very ]>oor in consequence. The Agricultural Department offered them the opportunity of getting some Alsace potash some time ago, and he understood that some orders had been placer), but they had had no advice as to_-whether tho potash was coming. Anything that could be done to bring pota-h to this country would be of the ercatcst benefit to tho whole forming community. Ammonia for Freezers. Another point which he wished to mention was the shortage of ammonia for the freezing piocess. Mr. Massey: Whore do you got .ammonia? Mr. Milno: "From Australia." Ho added that although orders'had been placed, if was difficult to obtain supplies, lie had reason to know that other works In:eidos his own wero very short of ammonia. If the supply failed then quantities of the Imperial n'eat might bo lost. Ho suggested that the!Govcrnmont should

find out from tho companies just whit stocks they held, and if possible help them to get supplies from Australia.

Mr. A. D. M'Leod said that ho was particularly concerned about the shipping' question. Ho was not specially concerned about tho termination of tho commandeer, although ho personally would have liked to Bee it go one year more, but lie was concerned nbont tho treatment that the producers might {fct from tho shipping combines.

The Nauru Rook Phosphates, Mr. Massey, replying, referred lo tho need for phosphates. Tho fact that Vow Zealand had been able to secure »n interest in.Nnuru was proof that tho interests of New Zealand had been Nrntched by their representative while Vio had been abroad. As to the "talc «f tho purchase arrangement, he had had h cablegram from Lord Milner just before the Christmas holidays informing Viim that the British Government Kid vonsulled their experts and had arrived; st an'idca of tho value of the companr's interests in . the iflanrl, and t/;at tho New Zealand, and Australian Governments were being consulted as to whether an offer should be made to the company on thn basis of this, estimate. Australia consented. Tie hart not had an opportunity of arriving at a decision imtil the first Cabinet meeting held after the elections, and at that meeting Cabinet apnroved. Since then he had never bMfj able to get any more information from the-British Government. Unfortunately Lord Milner had rone .to Egypt to do most important work there, and it seemed that no communication on tins matter could be expected until after his return from thnt mission. Tie was sure that New Zealand would not suffer at the hands of Lord Milner. If Unl Milne* had not dune his best for New Zenhnd we should have been out in the cold todnv so far as Nauru was concerned. Ho had no doubt that the negotiations would be successful and that the purchase of tho company's interests would bo concluded. While, in England he had foreseen the possibility of some time elapsing between the signing of tiie mandate and the completion of the purchase, and in reply to his request the mnnaging director of the phosphate company had promised thnt if New Zealand wanted phosphates the company would snpnlv them, nt the market price. The real difficulty was that, there were only very few establishments in the eountrv that could deal with rock phosphates., The only two that he knew of were Kempthorne, Prosser's establishments in Dunedin and in Auckland. A big co-operntivo_ concern was going on in Auckland, but it was not yet ready to take phosphates. When it was working it would be able to take nil the phosnTmtes procurable. • There wonh' be no difficulty nbont getting a shipment of phosphates from Nauru or Ocean Island. ITe had spoken with the manager of the Union Compnny on the question of sending a ship there ; and the manager had replied that shipping was now more plentiful, and that this would be quite possible But it would bo of no use to arrange tho nhipmont unless we could make use of it when we got it here. If Kempthorne, Prosser would undertnko the manufacture of- a shipment of rock phosphate into superphosphate, he. did not think it would be impossible for tho Government to get a shipment here.

Huge Prices. He understood the need for basic slag for dressing glass land. He had a cablegram from the High Commissioner quoting the price of Alsaco slag at ,£8 15s. per thousand kilogrammes, equal to tho 6ume price per ton. The quotation was ii "o.i.f.'qunttt but this seemed to be wrong. Fae cablegram said c.i.f. Antwerp. Possibly it meant f.o.b. Antwerp, and, if so, tho pric* would be almost prohibitive. Sir Walter Buchanan: Absolutely.

Mr. Massey said his quotation for potash was *£20 f.o.b Hamburg. Tie did not know whether it would pay New Zealaml manufacturers of fertilisers to buy at that price..

Mr. Milno said that the price was very high, but not very much was used in {Mixtures, ard the need was so urgent, iho land was s-o impoverished for lack of potash that *tioy would have to pay any price to get it. Ho could promise that anything the Government could do to help the producers i" regard to theso reotters ho would be very glad to do. Ik would make inquiries as to the possibility of getting superphosphates.

He would also do his best to see that supplies of ammonia were obtainable.. This was a most urgent matter. Although the meat in the stores was tho property of the Imperial Government he thought wo would bo liable for losses by our own negligence, and if meat were !"st for lafdt of ammonia, wo should be piobably liable. lit any case, wo should take just as much care of the meat belonging to tfip Imperial Government as if it were our. own.

A Year in Which to Act. Concerning shipping freights we had twelve rnoiitlw in which to get ready, and this shovld be enough time. It would not be possible in that time to got ships .built. Ho coiild give them nil tho informatio:i they needed with regard to shipbuilding. Nor was it possible to talk of buving ships already built; the cost would prove prohibitive. Ho thoughtthe first tiling to d- should be to arrange for nil the. producers' organisations, with tli» Board of Agriculture at the head, to gtt together and make sorno arrangements with the companies trading to New Zealand. This should be done now. rf the producers did not do th'S, what, wero they going to do? There was nothing else to be done. IE they were thinking of taking over the. whole trade of thi? country then they would need forty ships,' and forty ships could not be obtained in a day or two. 'I hey could not get half a dozen without ordering two years ahead. Ho had no idea what the freights were going to be. If tills conference with the shipping companies were 'arranged, the Government would help in any way possible. "If you want to buy ships you will have to put up most of the money yourselves," he said. "Our credit « limited, and our njonry it limited. Wo H'ant most of our money for the de7elojv ment of our own country within " A member of the deputation: Will the flpveriuncnt give .us k sha.ro of the mail contracts if we get ships?

Mr. Massey said that for carrying inni's shins'must b* fast, and such ships would not be profitable to farmers as Treighters. If tbo farmers wanted the Government to help them with n guarantee,, ho would be quite prepared to recommend Cabinet to give this gunrantee. This shipping question wks bigger than appeared on tho surface. He had looked into it very carefully, and had a lot of information on lie subject, and bo would supply it if it would be of nny assistance to them. But tho t'me for the producers to move was now. Reliance on Imperial Government. As to the Imperial Government, ho had had a good deal of experience with it in tho past few yews, nnd never once had it failed him. It hn'd not always been nblo to do all that Nerf Zealand wanted. It had not always tho ships available. But as for these, trusts, that wns another story. But ho v<H sure Unit; Mic Imperial .Government would still be willing to h'dp New Zealand. Mr. M'l,eod suggested that there wn« danger in allowing individual companies to make contracts with the shipping companies. Mr. Massey: That is a matter on which I havo had no experience. 1 should pay that there is danger. Mr. M'Lnod: There are Tumours that pome of the shipping companies havo more than a nodding acquaintance with the Heat Trust! Mr. Massey said that the one thing New Zealand Must prevent at all co-it was the control of our shipping by '-lie Meal: Trust. Mr. M'Lcod: Can we as producers prevent that? Mr. .ilassor taiil'lie (lu/noJit this could be done by 'legislation. Ho mis not at the moment able to suggest a melhud by which it could be done. Tn« Danuor. Sir .Walter Buchanan said that Micro was nothing to prevent tho shipping companies holding a pistol at the heads of Ihc producers and demanding live yearn' contract:), two years' contracts, and so on, arranging that: all tho contract.! would not run out at tho samo time. Tlio country would bo absolutely ut the mercy of'tho whipping rings at