FARMING INDUSTRY.

Hokitika Guardian, 24 January 1922, Page 4

FARMING INDUSTRY.

(Mercantile Gazette)

There is a general opinion among mercantile men tliat -the worst is over, and that although it may he a long time before the'' shadow passes completely away, business is tending once more towards normal. Many people have said, that generally, the optimist is a better prophet than his vis-a-vis,' the pessimist, and we think a good deal has been said which .lias not taken into account the natural tendency of things to improve, even under the worst possible conditions. | Of the farmers a "good many unsynij pathetic remarks have been made durj ’ iiig the last twelve months, it is quitd : true that during the last twenty ycarj they have all had splendid times, -but it is contrary to fact that they have squandered their income for all those years and have only themselves to thank if at the first pinch of adversity ’they are hard up. There is no truth in’ the statement that they have acted as spendthrifts or are now beggars; of ready money. they are short, simply because those on whom they have lieen accustomed to lean lor cash are unable or unwilling.to assist them at the piesent time'.

Eighty per cent of the men upon the land are able to view the pi position with equanimity, and although tiioy regard with anxiety the position which has been 'brought about principally by labour demands ail over the world,’ and which' .threatens to cut their income down temporarily ,to nothing, they arc men of substantial capital whoso profits have gone into improvements, or have beep applied to reduction of mortgages and will remain quietly upon their farms endeavouring to meet lower returns for their produce by effective retrenchment. These men will for a time have to mentally write off tho fictitious values to which they thought their lands had appreciated, ami must he content to consider that until prices at Hume harden and labour charges fall here, their annual income must be based upon lower land values than have been in their thoughts during the .last live years.

Apart from these, .the other twenty per cent may be divided into two classes, those who have bought land at boom prices during the.last five years, including the returned soldiers, and a small residuum of speculators who have been left with lands upon their hands, most of whom have no financial means to complete their purchases and will simply throw them hack on their vendors’,ii.qnds and seek the safe haven of bankruptcy. For the classes which really are in distressful circumstances

those who intended to adopt farming as a business and live upon their land, who have bought at prices which under present circumstances renders it impossible for them to make the business an economic success, their option is a very narrow one —their alternative is

1 o obtain some concession of interest

or principal from those who sold to 'them, or reconstruct through the Bankruptcy Court. We arc not, however, discussing individual hardships, but as to the industry generally and for the purpose of iefuting the unfair statements that the farmers, as a class, are in a very bad way. We think that already the farming position is improving, wool is slowly moving upwards and although the meat position is bad, it is not because the London prices are impossible. The trouble is that increased charges all along the line are simply eating 1 up the margin which should go to the iarinei, and until those come down the position cannot alter. When Mr Massey has either completed his arrangements regarding the Meat Pool, of if he finds the difficulties in his way of doing so insurmountable, we suggest that ho should consider the possibility of assisting the farmers in other ways. They, like all others, are feeling directly and indirectly the killing effect of taxation and labour charges, and as soon as he can see his wav to reduce his land and income tax and do what is possible to bring about an adjustment of labour to present conditions, he will assist the farming industry even perhaps more than if his meat pool became a reality.