STILL SMALLER FARMS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 660, 11 May 1929, Page 16

STILL SMALLER FARMS

DIFFICULT SCHEME TO APPLY A WORKING CREED FOR FARMERS X T V. (Written for THE SUN by David Jones, 31. P.i In a previous article I pointed out that the probable cost of settling 2,000 men on the land would be about £6,000,000 and the net gain would be to make provision for only about 1,000 settlers. There is, however, a strong opinion in some quarters that land should be cut up into very much smaller areas and it is argued that 10 to 20 acres would be quite sufficient to provide a family with a good living and that such settlement is comparatively inexpensive. This view is held because the supporters of it only take into consideration the value of such a block of land; they do not investigate carefully the actual cost of building and improvements. From the time the axe is laid at the root of the tree there is an aggregation of costs that make houses far too dear. In most industries machinery has taken the place of hand work, but we build houses in very much the same way as Noah built the ark. One of the greatest needs of the day all over the world is mass production either in concrete or other durable material to reduce the cost of building homes. The rent the worker has to pay makes far too great an inroad into his weekly' earnings, and the same thing is restricting our land settlement. A pioneer in this would indeed he a national benefactor. Suppose we buy 10 acres of land at £SO an acre (and for small holdings nothing is worth consideration except the very best of land), the purchase price is only £SOO, but the buildings and fences will cost probably £1,250, making the total cost £1,750. The land out of which the living has to he made can easily be provided, but the total cost makes it a very expensive proposition.

A PRODUCTION PROBLEM Can a man make a living on £SOO worth of land? This land will not provide a living for a family unless it is close to a city and suitable for market gardening, milking, etc. Potato growing was once the mainstay of the small farmer in Canterbury, but the closing of the Australian market has made this line too precarious. In the country a living cannot be made on such areas. The owner has to obtain employment during the day and do his own farm work early mornings and late in the evenings, working, say, 10 to 11 hours a day—eight for a neighbouring farmer and the balance on his own land. He may do very well if he has good land, suitable for dairying, but if it is cropping land, my experience teaches me that when he should he working on his own place that is just the time his employer needs him, and if he fails the farmer his job is in danger. The usual result is that the small holder’s own land becomes dirty with weeds and rubbish. He cannot provide his own team because they would eat most of the crop he grew and the land drifts back and becomes unprofitable. No system of settlement that does not take into consideration the voice of the land itself can succeed permanently. The scheme is not new in New Zealand. Wm. Rolleston’s village settlements were the first; various Governments have tried them since, but except on rich dairy land or specially selected suburban areas the experience has been most discouraging. -4. GREAT MISTAKE

One of the greatest mistakes with the discharged soldiers’ settlement was putting a soldier on too small an area. I have had a lot of experience with the Canterbury men and know too well how true this is. I was on a soldier’s farm recently. Previously he had about 70 acres of very good land. He worked all hours and made no headway. One of the other settlers failed and left for the same reason. His holding was then divided by the Land Board between the two remaining soldiers and now they are improving their position. This is a common experience. A great deal of the Canterbury Land Board’s work (and they are very capable and experienced men) has been devoted to the same thing in other settlements. Surely the experience of the past should be sufficient to warn us against a repetition. A commissioner of wide experience and sound judgment can carry out small settlement in picked places in New Zealand very successfully, but to lay it down as a general policy and carry it out on an extensive scale is entering into competition with the prodigal son. One of the most important facts disclosed during this review is that the high price of putting improvements on the land is a greater barrier to settlement than the socalled high price of the land.

Considerable areas of land are on the market at very reasonable prices, but when the cost of improvements is added, then the improved farm is very dear. WHAT IS A “WORKER”?

1 have never been able yet to understand the popular definition of a worker. It is commonly understood to mean a person who works for wages, but this is a very narrow interpretation. Surely a worker is a person who works, and this would bring within the scope of the term practically the whole of the people in the Dominion. The majority of the employers and farmers in New Zealand were formerly workers in the popular acceptance of the term. By working harder and for longer hours than their fellow employees and saving their wages they became employers of labour. They seldom ceased toiling. These men are more entitled to rank as workers than the worker who in season and out of season fights to limit the hours and wages of his fellow-workers, but works exceedingly long hours himself so that he may secure the position of organiser or secretary, which is on the high road to a seat in Parliament. These capitalists living on the earnings of the workers are very numerous. Why have we. then, one law for one class of worker and another law for other classes of workers? To one class of worker we say, you must only work certain hours and these constitute a day’s work; if you work longer you will be fined, and so will your employer. NEW COMMANDMENTS On a recent Saturday the motor of a delivery truck went wrong before all the goods were delivered and the

driver after considerable delay' on the road was able to fix it and completed his work in the afternoon. He rang up his employer and informed him with some pride of what he had done and was thanked for it. The sequel was that the inspector made inquiries with a view to prosecuting for delivering goods on Saturday afternoon. The 12th Commandment, “Thou shalt not work,” had been broken and the penalty must be paid. The Ten Commandments -were intended to apply to all, but this later addition is only for the elect. The tillers of the soil find it impossible to keep the ten, so this new commandment does not apply to them. The Fourth Commandment has also been amended and now may be read: “Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work and on the seventh thou shalt do what cannot be done on the other six.” When -we put a worker on the land his economic salvation is presumed to be settled, but whether he be a farm labourer, farmer’s son or whoever he may be, if he is a fryer, he Is certainly a worker, but -we put a new creed into his hands. THE FARMER’S CREED 1. Thou shalt build thy house, but thou canst not enter into a voluntaryagreement with thy carpenter so that he may work thy hours, earn more money, and get out of the undesirable country as early as possible. Heifcnd thou art bound by an award of a Court that has no elasticity and knows nothing of thy particular condition. 2. Thou shalt also pay an extra rate for the work done as a penalty for living in the country, when the towns are ready to welcome thee with open arms. 3. Every worker who worketh for thee in the city, making the things that thou needest, must not work by piecework lest he may successfully compete against the goods made in other countries and thus find employment for all thy brethren. It is decreed that this law has no effect upon the workers in other countries, particularly our brethren in America, who lovest piecework, and may thereby compete successfully in our markets, creating all our unemployment. 4. Thou shalt do nothing to prevent the continuous flow of borrowed money into thy country, so that these men may be employed at much unnecessary work and increase thy taxation in the future.

5. Thou shalt have added on to the price of thy goods the cost of all the inspectors who go about to see that men do not work when the law says they shall not work, or do that most hideous thing, make an agreement with their employer to earn more money and risk becoming a capitalist. 6. Also there shall be added an additional amount for the officials who remain in tl a- offices, and the Court and the officials and secretaries and lawyers, who verily must be fed. 7. There shall be no limit to the hours thou shalt work on the land that has been provided for thee, for on the success of thy efforts and thy- - fellow farmers dost depend the prosperity of the Dominion. 8. Thou must use every conceivable device so that thou mayest continuously increase production so that the interest on our loans may be met, lest the elect be compelled to work even as thou are compelled to toil. Thou shalt do all thy -work by piecework so that thou mayest successfully compete in the markets of the world. 9. Thou shalt be paid so much for each pound of butter, meat, wool and other products that are of first quality and grade, and to spur thee on to even greater diligence and watchfulness the price will he reduced if the quality lackest. 10. There shall be no guarantee of price to thee in the world’s markets, and if the price fall, thou shalt work harder so that the balance of trade be not affected adversely and thy brethren in America suffer through our inability to purchase their goods. Thou shalt not be compelled to make bricks without straw, for they are all made now by machinery. “Get on the land, young man.” DAVID JONES.