Farming Column

Hokitika Guardian, 24 September 1932, Page 8

Farming Column

FARM LANDS EOONOMiC VALUE!1 POPULAR. FALLACY' EXPOSED, ; ' : “T should .likfe to. make reference -to two ’ vije wipoints ip: (connection: with farm lands .that- generally appear today and need' to be more clearly understood* One is that it is often stated to-day that farm.; lands-are* worth on'-y their present economic .value. Because this 1 Ataterhent has an element -of truth in it, lti has . therefore- become a Very/ popular/ fallacy,/’ -said- the' Hon.v Adam Hamilton; in the copirse ?of - his addrese* as : chairman of directory at the -. annual" nS-eeting*of l shareholders- of -th’d Southlands- Farmers’ r Co-operative 1 As J Ltd., recefltly. -- • ■•**■ sHfv:it were .the* whoJe 'truth; the cotj«eqOences> would -be so* serious for New Zealand that it cannot 11 be'-.-ae-, j cfipfe(j ae final,” he said. “The falj lacy lies - in: the fact' that ’Under ex* j iisting i dfjhditions- economic value jb jsuch a sljiftirig factor that it; cannot jbe :acffepted as a standard of value, j If,; New Zealand were td| act- I ' accord- 1 , I ing to the present' economic value;; of j jdand it would -b$ fl s£f dto say that 'at; least half of r the- ; occupied land 'Aif: ew Zealand is/valueless and , ,r ‘HfOuld' therefore be- abandoned and .return'-Xto? ,fs hatura) state; Indeed, under bxi'st* j ‘rn? economic’ conditions,* land" "settlement is an economic ! possibility. ' .-mctwjte :• “Jhc other ppint -that I’ j Araiv attention ’to is that it is c oft'efi tated it farm land i . cbiild-/ bb bought Imore’ cheaply mdfe people would go This- statement expressed an opinion bo to the . ecoiiomic Jhw governing Land settiement ,that. it s peeds- correcting* Upless farming .on : our second and* third class- land in New. Zealand' .to be accepted as' undesirable, what j-b needed-tordfly w /.that,,: the ~economic title- of prici&.and coats should , , 1 turned so a? 'to enable 'the, settler .-on j such ’land' to receive at least five per j cent, on the-,,value* of his: ;imprOveI, meni.fi, ftock and plant, together with a., ; ,f%gd . pof, lower., .than •»,-that Which, reliipf, workers'-,.are. deceiving, L would. yenture the opinion that, thoter ’SeL* j tletejii laj-e.,' hot ..receiving » this? .Tewaftf ; to-qjiyv and-unless- euch an ■ investment' ] is., reasonably - * safeguardedV- -in “ 1 ,-tbfc' l economic fight, such .lands, will nGver|be improved. j “It wouhh.seem that;.before, the f»l- ---[ kufieoi. contained in these two state/ meats are/. clearly, understood, W« Bhall;)hßve.;to,-, wftit ~ until they, afe proved* by the hard .facts' of eodnom'd pressure. y Ip- the / presenthfday ; woHd ! popular ifallacieg? -rather: - than .trwaatfii*. i ed-.argumehte > seem- to'’ gab thl s 'ihiSWl v | prominent part. ■<: .V;--j “Oh previous I ' hat?,' ; made reference 1 to the 1 movements of ’economic prices -..and-the farmfeHfr : pound. The following are th e - latest figures available; .

“The latest index figures ghow: * :(i|/ % |R©t^U 1 -prices - -(at • -February, 1932) '39 per cent, above July, 1914. . (2p Arming’'--costs, /,-49 per/cent, aboy© yeah' 1914. ■■; 7 ;; (3) ’Export prices--. (meat y - 1 wool, ...butter; cljeese), 25 per cent, below year 1914,.:’ - ---’ •

i “i should* like to-correct two stater j mente t^*t r appeared in the press in I connection 1 with a meeting which I (attended at Dannevirke. The first ! o«e attributed’ to me wa« in relation |te the farmers hot being the; beet J qjaalide'ii/to do their own marketing,witp ’Special reference to' farmers’ board*. This statement was not hy.).pie, by another > & “The other point in which 1 wish to a cdf;rec|i,On, wa s where I mentioned three femep-; ies that would be useful to help r the yeconomic position of to-day in New ,Zealand. One was an increase in th® /world price -level, the /second was* fur- , tjher deflation inside New Zealand, and the third was inflation or reduction in the va.|u 6 of the New Zealand jpound. This third ode in some of the 'southern papers was reported as 'de.fl::tion’ instead of ‘inflation.’ ”

AN UNEXPECTED HITCH. ~ The development of the small farm pl*n in Otago and Southland has been unexpectedly interrupted ae a result of a difficulty that has arisen over fhe cost of th 6 erection o.f houses on’ the small holdings. It appears that local builders’ ideas of the cost jof the -structures do not coincide with |hose of, the Government. This is indicated by the fact that .of 15 tensors received for the erection of buildings in Otago and Southland, only three have been accepta>bl e to the authorities. Jft is understood that the suggestion ha® now been made that the work of construction should be undertaken by the, Public Works* Department,, instead of local build-, erg being given an. opportunity of pecuripg work for their .men.

f TOO MUCH ARGENTINA. j ; , ’ LONDON JOURNAL’S VIEW. j . To?day .practically everything which Bonds to us (and she com petee. /powerfullywith Australia Hi ' both meat >and wool) is to come hI duty; .free. | In .1929,! th 6 - last, ypar of: .normal ’ world!/trade, oUr imports, from tliu j Argentine.: were 6V a value.' of £82,j 500,000,*., biit our'- exports thither .no j more* ; than £29,000,000. If . Australia : treated • us. in the same way oui*iover<i ;seas trade would ' suffer- much diminu- \ tion, : '.for in that year Australia!. sold 'to us £55,500,000 of goods and bought j from, us ■ £54,250,000, says the Lou* | don Live -Stock Journal. .. .* | Each ' individual - in -tile. Argentina i Republic .spent 52a in England, am. ! each ( individual in the Commonweal! h |of Australia spent- £8 7s.- * During lh j same/year i the .United States 1 -»«old in fth© Argentine £42,000,000 worjh of (goods,: and spent thei'e only. £23,- : 500,000. , /.' h,i.

j AUSTRALIAN PRODUCE. | PUBLICITY SCHEME*. J); In -vicfW; of the commendable resulte fin : the .paat, and th e necesgity. fbc Ikeeping-: Australian butter prominently' jbefor#. Lh© Biitish consumers; especi--sally at'Vthe .present time; the'-AuStra* jlian Dairy!-Produce Export Board ha*s j decided ji tot {.vote the sum of £ISOO to jb© espbridied on advertising in ; Ausjtralia .in i connection with the schema /for the'*!distribution. ,of .packets , ol 'Auetealian products throughout th, ■ United Kingdom. V 1 i People!:, jh Aiistralia Will be invited ; tb purchase packets ‘. containing Ausr Ura ) lian' v :;b'irtter, chee«e," eggfi; u dried 1 if»esb.» <and t canned j,i its, honeys,- et .■ . dor dispatch to their friends •or rela* i tives i ;in the- - 'United* 'Kingdom' as .Christmas gifts. The packets will be .made; up 'in England- under th 6 BupPr-i yywion jpf'thd; publicity committee’zahdi i«j>nly 'the very ’beat. products.', obtainable, Will 1 be packed. Recipe boolisj :and other matter advertising the productsl will be -inoluded'in-eteh- packet.

f ’ '-RUSSIAN CATTLE BUYING. r; y" V v .* j 'Thby, : Ri»«siaUtt have*’ taken- • away jabodtySO-ihiefi’SFofv.pedigree cattle from i the 'Nhrth-easf-7' ’of Scotland—6o Shorti horns and 1 20 Aberdeen Angus. They ’were ; trucked’-• at . Aberdeen. Breeders |W- not .look to the 'Russian -demand to |Teviv©r th© p.edi^te e cattle' market. The i;:Ri^ah^v/canhpt ; ,afiford„ t .to. pay., high ; prices. On thb other hand they are jsaid-. not to'- B&*. over particular, about! the class of J-Battle they,, select. 1 ' i ! ; ' JUDGES’ ’PREDICAMENT.

'A mibst unusual incident happened, the English -Royal Show this year in awarding "the Shorthorn breed cup for the best animal in the show. It «o happened that Mr Marshall, of Stranraer, had won both the male and female championships, also reserve mal©/ but : the two judges being unable to' agree a.» . to- whether the bulb oir *c6Uf should get the breed cup, a third Was called in who caused a£. commotion s by passing over both, championfl ac-d giving the cup to the biill which was reserve and first'ii-in the two yeans old -class. At a meeting ofi the (Shorthorn Society held the following day ft. %as't decided to-, alter' the rule so as’ to prohibit reserve ani-' mals competing for the cup.

JAPANESE’’'WOOL 'REQUIREMENTS. According to!-A* 1 , statement issued by Mr K; Eurashige, of the Japane'o woolbuying firm. 0f..,. Kanematsu and Company, Sydney, Japan will require ifrbm Australia approximately 600,000 Ipates’ 1 -' df • wool thie( igoason, provided fth'e classing* and quality are up to’ jthf’ farmer. st-ahdard’. -' ■--■■■<> . said that better attention** -would* ! need to be/shown to th e classing of j Australian ' wood ’ if Australia wished 1 ■ her good l • name '■ for fir q t- class ,r wooP I to-i be maibta/ined in Japan. There ’ w?re several comp’.ainfs about the bad clas.sing of previous supplies of w’ool from Australia. Some of th© clips sold to Japan contained considerable quantity** of vegetable matter. while there were numerous jn-j .-stances in which good fleece wools contained skirtings. Bad classing during the current season’s clip -would 'result in some of the trade leaving Australia.

BRITISH MILKING RF.OQRD. 1 A new British record for milk produced 'in oirn day by a heifer has been est."iHl'Rhed bv the British. Friesi&nl Terling ’-Warner ,XIl, , .bred/by (Lord but owned , and develOned bv -Mr Arthur O. -Hughes,/ /of Rlirisuei'o*. h r, if ,1 r cave ear.ly in ..Tul*-.. 1 Qdlb .of rnilk’; in dnOi day, thu 3 beating the previous venqrd of 9941 b . reperrtlv .-set i/n bv Martin Smith's British Friesian Pb.tt-inp’ton Ambrosia. • Mr Hughes’ record breaking heifer' was- born on -June 23, 1929, and bad her,-.' first calf inst before !>he - was. three years old. She: gave 197 gallons: In. J-22 days, and, averaged 99Jlb dailv fotifseven day 3 in the third week af.ter’icalying., .For. t-be, «ig.ht days endod .Inly ,16 she gave 97V'b 951 b. 10°* lb. iObllb; 1021 b. 103Ub and 10«1h respectively. Her sirp was tbe Register- of>;Merit’bull Dunninald Haeaye-m-kirschaaf t

Relative value <tf’ Year 20/- to farmer. 1914 "... • ... 20/. >1817 < > ..y. .... 23/8. - ’•1922-• 1 •y. \ ... ... 16/- , 1925 ... ... 22/1 1931 ... - . ... ..... 11/10 . 193? (June) . .. ; 10/2