The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1919. OUR FARMERS IN CONFERENCE.

Taihape Daily Times, 16 September 1919, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1919. OUR FARMERS IN CONFERENCE.

With which I'l3 incorporated ‘ “'.[_‘he Taihaine Post; and Waimarino News.”

The address of the Dominion President of the New Zealiand Farmers’ Union, delivered at.‘ the Dominion Conference this mornin'g,'cel-tainly covers a ;very wide field. It was only in the natural order of things that farmers ;l",:'_sj;;foulcl‘ be thankful ‘for the defeat of the elie'mya~that"-sought to take from [I them. the‘ ‘lands? which the'y 'occupy'in 5 freedom and liberty,-‘cdmfo-rt"«and con--7 venience.«: - It cannot be questioned ‘ " ‘thattlie farmer. whoifarms with a sense ’ of '.’.that humane rel.atiso~nship' it-o» Ithe millions for whom there is no l-and‘to' I i farm, truly worthy of all. -reasona'ble J consideration the State can. extend»-to 1 him. ‘Sir J ames Wilson has gone .a long: ; way back in history to illusatrate ‘and !supplement his ;remarks, and fit" is iohvious that .he; has been searching ich.runicles- of civilisation to find some basis therein for meetings to confer on ‘current topics with, such extremists ‘as those of to-day he terms B'olshe- } Viks. The evolution of Parliaments has n been ransacked to find precedents for such conferences, and he discovers ‘nothing nearer than the old Saxon I Folkmotc, or general district; meetings, l in which our foret'.athers foresh-adowed ' our present—day parliaments. For Kem'ble says the Folkmote was originally ‘the meeting of the nation which was ’ afterwards converted into the Witena—zgemotfe, or meeting of representatives | of the n.ation_ The notable connection ll such old-time meetings had with meet- ] ings of farmers to-day is that all who ‘i took’ part did so chiefly from their in- : terest in the lands which they occupied, ti and in that connection the reference is ‘ not ‘inept, or very wide of the mark. iThe address is, in a gen-er.al way, not ivery helpful in pointing out an exit from the difliculties with which present--day farming is surrounded. Land has ‘ become so closely related to an industry which the attendants :of the old Folkmotc were not troubled witlr, and in I this respect’ Sir James Wilson is rather i disappointing. The practical portion of ‘his address comnfences with a recital of difiiculties, but no solution of these difficulties is suggested. The most serious trouble, he says, is shipping, and yet he :ofl?ers no proposal as _.a.= means of improvement; he paints a very black future; he is of opinion that eighty l ships are required this season, and they inlay consider/themselves fortunate if Ithey get ten. This is indeed a very : serious matter in which every elector in itho country is deeply interested, so much so that it is dou'btfu.l whether constituencies will not take some practical steps to have what the land produces more promptly 'cTfrl'ied to nlarket. The shipping problem is fraught with all the elenients of despondcncy for farmers; they are commencing another harvest of meat and wool, while their "stores are blocked to: the doors with the liznvests of previous years. Men of foresight are constantly trying to wrest public utztention from money squandering and extortionnte trading. Men like Mr Hoover are prod-icting 21 \uorld~wide decrease in food prices in the near future; he warns the people of the United States against allowing enormous surpluses of food to collect in the country; he cautions Americans against’ difficulties of producing that which they cannot market. Are the ‘9‘Dinions and the judgments of the Hoovers of no more concern than the murmurings of tile man in the street? Mk" PTOPIINS of old, they cry aloud T 0 “I 0 people to beW.a—r—e of the evil’ that is ob\7f(')us to them in the near f“““'‘‘ they cannot avoid, but we are 100 much engaged with self-interest tol look "P and Wllise what the future isi

I*i-kc. Hoovereniphasises the urgency of the need for getting stored food out of the country, and tli|ewlmarsh.a.lling of every ship suitable for the purpose to transport that food. Yet New Zealand cold storage is packed to the doors, and not more ‘than ten ships out of -the: eighty necessary are likely to be avail- I able. Our farmers are getting four-I pence halfpenny fiorr their meat, and! that meat is left to congest their— stores, while hundreds of tons of irt would be saleable ‘in Germany to—day at six shillings a pound. Truly, as Sir James .Wilson states,:the most serious difficulty in New Zealand is the seii-city of ships, but what has Sir J.anles to suggest by Iway of improvement‘? What has ‘the 3Government -of New Zealand been doing to keep farmers’ meat at fourpence halfpenny while American nle.a.t. was being enabled "ho exploit an European market where meat is readily saleable at more /vshillings ‘per pound‘?

bring -ruin, discontent, and chagrin to] New Zealand f-armors their GtOVCwI'IIIIIOIIt I permitted all New Zealand~owned ships" Ito‘ be solid to the Shipping ~Conl~bine, chiefly controlled by Americans. A lamentably stupid ‘Gv'overnment allowed every .ship to be sold that was available for carrying -the country ’s produce -“no market, and now that same Government would purchase ships, but shipsaro too costly, wt least, that is pro-I cisely what the Prime Minister has‘ stated. VVe are of opinion that faijm-» ers and the people will realise that New Zealand is being side-tracked frfiwm iparticipation in the highest maair-kets; ‘that they will demand ships that Will‘ ‘save them from the blind roads into ‘which trusts and combines are forcing them. It is alreadywreeognised that the Gzovernment is in .214 dilcmnla;' that by its blunderings it has reached an impossible position, an inextric-able difli-I culty. “M-ore *prod'noti.oxn, and :stil'l’ more proclucti'on" is the ‘}nverunlentl_

cry,‘ and it cannot. coifimence liroducing more because it‘ cannot get that tomarket which it. is .3.-lreuady producing. The Governnient is naked of ideas inl the impasse to which production is i brought, and it is not tin be wonderedi at that the Dominion President. of the i Farmers’ Union is afraid to venture I ufion a means of exit. from What ap—i . pears an insoluble problem-. Farmers‘ must have shipping; the country must ‘have shipping‘; the‘ country is by ‘ingeptitude and ignorance, if—- ‘nothing worse, drifting towards revolution, and . i_n shipping. rlies : it-'3”-. only sure .- salvation. The country ’:muS»t-‘boldly face the situation atitlle.»fort:llo’oming elec- , -tions; it has lost. millions" of money fior 'want of s'hipf)in‘g -inréthe past, but‘ it)‘ stands to lose many more millions from ! a similar wvanxt in the future. Cannot] the Inerest_tyro realise that. shipping is as essential to pl'og'.'ess in New Zealand as fuel is ‘do a. fire‘? Then whatever the cost of iobt-aining‘ ships may be, let i ins put against that cost, ‘on the Oti1(?1'fl side of the ieger, whajc__t‘llis country has foolishly sacrificed by permitt:7ng every ship it owned being sold to the crafty combine, and we shall at once realise the nature "and maligniaty of the ship-.i ping insanity with which the Govern—g Iment is —afflicted_ .There is ample 4. ‘material in the address Sir James Wil— I son delivered tie the. ‘D.om'inion Farmers ’ Conference this niorning ~ for dozens «of articles, but space will ‘only permit a, short reference to J ‘the President's‘ quotation. of rules lziid down, as he states, by all economists. .l iThcy are, “(l) That when demand is

in excess of supply, prices will .rise.! (2) That high prices will s*tinlulatel production. (3) That stimulated pro—_ dueflion will restore the balance, .a.ndl !pl'iC€S_wil'l. fall.” But‘ Sir Jmlies ought I gt-cl be aware that economic science is! no miorc prone to stagnate .tllan other scioilees_ and that, in consequehce,‘ his economic science is out of date. VVh:lt is the cold storage of most products for but to regulate the supply? Is it 11013 .a‘ fact that when the supply is gl'eatel' than demand, supply is regulated so as to prevent fall of prices? Have we not ample experience vthat supply is’ '.-"m'm.-x~L-cl l:r_\,' s_Vu'diCate.< in order to boost up pi-i_ees*-.’~ Are people so simple! To-«lay as to liellieug that stixliulated pi-oducl‘ion necessarily lowers prices? Such p're’rfy principles of political economy have virtues only when honestly : lmmllvd. “'0 have To take a pr.ac.tic~al 3 View of production. markets, and means I]

T bf distriliiitioii as we find them at this inioinoiif, and whaf do we See? Them lam‘ l'h_ousan(ls of tons Of Illcilt i and other produce becoming 1lIlS2ll(‘1ll)lO in’ our stores, but tho fact has no affect (on prices simply because they are kept in .-our Storos by the (?Ol'll(‘I‘lllg‘ of shipping by 8. I-rimiual C(HI1l)ln(- a-l.~'(‘wl1or0. \Vhilo NOW Z«‘:il:n»«l 1:10:11‘ is i’orr'ml info .<'fl<”'¢‘ \\'ll(“.'(‘ it was produced. "Mfr Hoover is lirg‘iilg' A\ll](_hl.i(r"'.‘-"IS to use flloir .<ll’ips in gr;-ltfiiigevr-I'y ounce of Amoricini nlr.‘:'.l' to I‘luropg- while if is snlcziblo at frntn six to nine shillings a pound. I<'al'iuol's, people. mul Government in this country n'.u.:~:f zulmiit {hm they have "of. sense‘ enough he roalisv the urgency of es‘.L“-- 3 lishing nioans of getting productiionl market. We look across the Pacific l 3173- SOO the queue olfflconibiiio shipsl B'*"“{;' one after the other from America l f 0 Europe with meaf and wool, to‘ 1I1ilI‘lif?-"S that would mean millions to Now Zoalmul f.m‘merg if they could only ]7""'fi°iPßt9« and yet tliey ask_-tllom-Solves no quesffons about The future.