FARMERS IN CONFERENCE.

Taihape Daily Times, 17 September 1919, Page 3

FARMERS IN CONFERENCE.

--'-*—-as--—--.._.___ MEETING OF N.Z. FARMERS’ UNION. (BY Tol9gl'3'Ph‘-lSl)ecial to Times.) \VELI,.INGTON, Sept. 16_ ‘ The Dominion Conference of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union opened to~‘ day. The President’, Sir J. G. WilSon, delivered his annual .address_ After llaying the highest Clllogy to the men who had fought. and (lied for me Em.pirc, and briefly tracing the history of the war in its final stages, he said if thc‘wol'ld had been out of joint and countries \\‘al'l‘illg against each r0:1'l1e1'. the seasons lmd followed suit. The tofal dCCl'Oil-90 Of sheep in the Dominion. had been shown to be 1,02(5,5:3£), which would pl-0-bably 111e’zin 18,000 01‘ 20,000 fewer bales of wool to export. 0 THE SCARCITY OF SHIPS. The most serious difficulty exleollntel~ ed during the war had been the shol'.t'age of sliipping, necessitating the storing practically the whole of our season ’S output. 'l‘hel'e were ‘:1 few weeks ago, according the M.i‘n'lstel-3:11 statement, some seven "million caresses in store. The cl.a.sls of Vessel coming now with insulated space will pl'obnhl_\,' take 80,000 care-ases on the il7C‘l’{lgC. We have about two months befor'e the new season commences, and it woulcl take about 80 ships to clear 0111' s:'ores, or" forty ships .21 month. We shall be lucky if we get ten.

W'ool is much in the same position. Huge stocks, both here ‘and in Australia, are alwaiting Shipluent, while the (lemand at Home is phenomenal, land’ I am told much ‘beyond the experts’ opinion at. Home of what it would be. In the case of ‘ BUTTER AND CHEESE, ' there was every prospect of a reco."(l. season as far as output was coneerned. With all deference to the Ministerial s’t‘atelnent,‘re the sale of butter tso the Imperial Governnient, the butter producer has been hard hit by the purchase. The sale was satisfactory, but the fixing of the price for local sales has reduced that price by 12/ a cwt._, for that sum has been deduetctl mid credited to a. fund to meetthe 3rd difference between. local sales and export prices. Not -only this, but the money‘ so-i (leducted the pnsevio-us n-:1»: «ms not distributed until nearly twelve months, and dairy companies were forced to p.a.y interest upon the money due to 't'hein, and had to -lean upon the banks for assistance. There is great difiiculty at gettirrg‘ at. the cost of production of ,a pound of butter, but the Dairy Commissioner liasgiven it as his opinion that it costs 13 17.2 d, and so it must be seen that it is not by any means so profitable as the public seem to imagine to make. an article of diet costing over 1/7 to pl'0(.ll1CG and be fOl‘(’tOd to sell ir at 1/5 per ll) to the merchant. who is allowetl to sell it at an increase of 1d to the retailer in pats, getting‘ about id profit, or :1 six per wmt return for‘ a month’s credit.

Cheese has been more s-3.frisfactol'ily dvulf with, zmd apart from the nlaftors alluded to ;‘f)o.vo, mud fhn ‘\'m'_\' Cry mmulln. which In2l:fm'l'alTy shCl'tr-nod 1111(3sollßol], the d:>.il’}' farmer has done f'::i'-ly well. The ‘b.\/'6--D1‘O(]11Cf:~‘ are. re-m-'\"ng !'!‘(‘."l,‘ :11‘10m‘i()n. casein M continue in good denlall(], but 52:1-gar OF milk has n? yet be-m m:>.lxflmc~ ?m'ed-to any great extent. though sevem] dairy r3m2n_:zanios have been nmking inqnil'ie‘.<. The r::lpi’r:l] roquiro«‘l is

l:?1i{;‘o_ and 12 Vo2‘): large quan‘riT_\' of skim milk is also 11-scess2ll'y beforelit «mi be e<:oiionli<?:xlly niailuf'a.e_tiii*ed. Dried mill; is still reeeiVi.ng :.llg.l'(?fi‘L—' d ‘:11 of :It’ren!ion. especially ‘in the -VV~:iikato. “’HE_-‘KT -’%ROVVII\'G. ‘l“J.l‘niL"l‘s l2l:a.\‘(-, .=u<:l:(.<s and Hlll(‘ <lis:Lppointnieilt. In file wheat growing areu;< the rielier lumls ll{l.VL‘ shown good. yields, :nld‘been p:l_v{ible_, alfl!011'gl} the avomge yield is put dcwn some favouwd localities the yields llaV€ l.)(‘L‘11 much liigher. Prior to ithe war it was calculated ill:-.i.l7 before tliere was 21n_\f profit in wlleai—g*l'o\\'ing' twentyfivo bu.~=he.ls had ‘.O so set aside ‘r'm‘ PX])l?llS(‘.\‘. 'l‘o—(l.:l§'. taking into account the ,2-3,-0 in the price. it would take now about tlnirty bushels to pay expenses; sczfliat while the high yields would pay well, there must lizive l)(‘t‘I1 51 gmm‘ many uniler tliirty l')u.~'lit‘.l>' f 0 bring: down Hie 21\‘e1'{1g‘e to tliii"ry~four. On the flV'(‘l':lg‘(‘, \\'li(-:11’. has paid tlllS yuzir. If Hie :.}m\'o figures ~:11'C 001'Teef, the profit may be I'eol<.oned as equal to ’r'om' bl.isllels. 'l‘.Hl*l F U T U RE. ]:‘rom it financhil point of view, the l\’u:iiser’s will 10 war will have cost Over eigllty million stel'l'ing‘, which added to our debt, will bring our in_debtedness to something like 170 millions sl‘ei'ling_ Illi'(‘]'CSiT (‘ll2ll'gCS have to be met, besides the cost of pensions and allowances——in all Hiese will tgotal about eight million sterling. A 5 agxziinst the total debt we have It sum of accu mulated surpluses in London, of shortGated investments of some fifteen millions sferling',, and a very problein-:ifica'l amount from the indemnity from Germany. In direct taxation since the war began, no less a sunl ‘of twenty millions have ‘been levied by \m.y of lan-d and income tax; two mfillisovns more

H.-_zln \‘.':\.< v;Jilv-cr«‘d through the custfioms, and bL‘SidL‘,s this, local taxafion, no less 51. sum t}w.m £12,6.‘39,928 fof the last (Continued on page 6_)

The songs“ my mother taught to me I learned while perched upon her knee, And though they be but simple rhymes I croon them fondly still at times, ’Tis then I realise and know M The debt of love to her I owe; And how well justified and sure Her faith in Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure. 9