Rangitikei Advocate TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1907. SECOND EDITION. EDITORIAL NOTES

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 8893, 13 August 1907, Page 2

Rangitikei Advocate TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1907. SECOND EDITION. EDITORIAL NOTES

IN connection with the tariff on boots, a -comparison of the American statistics with of New Zoahmd reveals rha't while in America there ib a return of £-i 12s for every 1\ spout in wages, there is a lotura of only £'J lSs for every £1 i.spi'jir in wages iu New Zealand. Whether tlie cliffcreiico is caused by superior machinery and efficiency is immaterial to the fact that it would pay the people bettor to bay boots from the American maker than to allow a proportion of their number to waste time ami money in competing against them iu this particular line. It is no use "keeping the money in the country" if twice the money's worth is keeping it here. The difference in results explains why tho Americans can market their boots at a nrofit here, even though they have to overleap a P.2% per cent [tariff barrier before they can get their goods to purchasers in this country. Of course, New Zealand will still go on making boots at a loss till a Ministry is displaced which tells deputations that its policy is to (ind work for its own people by raising the cost of supplies. Its members apparently do not realise that they are simply taking a proportion of labour from profitable work to employ it in unprofitable. 'Government after tho stylo of Jack Cade will continue to be popular till a majority realise its folly, and the injury it inflicts on the people as a whole.

IN connection with the land values which have risen so rapidly the

lawcra Star has boon male nig senninstigations. It states that tho ; ignrcs supplied in one instance to or tain members of Parliament show hat tho gross rerarus for 11 months rom a 35J3 acre farm totalled £3504 2s lid. The items were given as 'ollows : Value of milk Calves Pigs 700 sacks barley •10 tons potatoes The milk was cows, and its by the factoi £2504 odiieru from IGS ,rth is certified to secretary. The farmer whose case we are quoting I says that in addition to the profits shown he has done well in dealing; buying odd parcels of cattle, [ running them on his farm for short i periods, and then selling thorn off I again. It is not for us to say what the land under consideration should be worth. %rom tho figures given it ought not to ho a difficult matter for those svho understand the practical working, the cost, and tho risks of farming to estimate. But the owner, tho Star says, puts the selling value on his farm at £4O an acre. Wc may point out that nothing in the above is allowed for labour or interest, A very moderate estimate for the former would considerably reduce the total, while if tho land is worth £lO. per acre, then at 5 percent the industry has to be debited with £CO6 per annum. Tho farmer lias £13,320 invested in land, and a business doing a gross amount of jto bo so remunerative as a commercial business should be on a