The Times. PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS. "We nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice." FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1918 THE PRICE OF FERTILIZERS

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 7, Issue 351, 8 February 1918, Page 2

The Times. PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS. " We nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice." FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1918 THE PRICE OF FERTILIZERS

When, at the recent Farmers' Union social at Tuakau, the chairman of the gathering, Mr E. T. Frost, suggested that the Government should put a maximum price upon artificial manures, he touched upon a matter of great national importance, and one that affects not merely the farmer, but in a less direct manner every individual in the Colony. Briefly put his contention was that as beet, mutton, wool, cheese and butter, —practically all we grow for export—had been commandeered on behalf of the Empire at a price far below what the goods would bring if placed upon the open market, it was only reasonable to demand that the Government should assure the producers of a supply of fertilizers at a fair price. If this were not done, i.e., if the farmers were still to be exploited by the manufacturers and importers the inevitable result would be a serious reduction of the output of food-stuffs and wool so essential to the Empire at the present time. No one of intelligence will attempt to gainsay Mr Frost's logic or deny that he has made out a case upon which the farmers ought to take immediate action. The price of artificial manures has reached very nearly the prohibitory point, and the results will be disastrous unless a remedy be shortly found. It is of supreme importance that at this juncture there should be no falling off of exports, not merely because they are an absolute necessity to the Motherland but because it is only by our excess of exports over imports that we can pay our share of the cost of the war. But there is nQdoubt that there will be a very serious falling oft unless there is a good supply of manure at a price at which fanners can profitably apply it to their lands, and there can be no reason why the supplies in hand should not be commandeered by the Government, and the exploitation of the consumers, which has reached an almost intolerable pitch, De put an end to. For many years, Mr G. M. Thompson, an Otago M.P, was insistent in his efforts to get successive Governments to acquire one ot the numerous pliosphatic islands in the Pacific, and so assure the farmers of New Zealand

of a constant supply of valuable manure at a low rate. He devoted some years of his lite to the project and was a mine of valuable information on the subject, but could never succeed in galvanizing the Government into taking action. To show how, even in pre-war times, farmers were exploited, he had in his possession balance-sheets of phosphate companies—some of them German owned —In which year by year the annual profit exceeded the amount of capital ; in other words they were paying the shareholders more than one hundred per cent. We trust Mr Frost and his fellow members of the Farmers' Union will not be satisfied with a mere expression of opinion, but will carry on the case to its logical conclusion. There will probably be a session of Parliament in April, and steps should be taken to bring the matter under the notice of the Government in the strongest possible manner. There is a chance here for the newlycreated sub-provincial branch of the Farmers' Union not only to win its spurs but to save the country from what will certainly be a set-back, and may lie a disaster.