FARMERS' UNION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 64, 2 August 1912, Page 7

FARMERS' UNION.

PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. In his opening address, the president (Mr. J. G. Wilson) referred to dairying, cheese, agriculture, the price of land, emigration, etc. Under these headings he said, first, with regard to

DAIRYING. This portion has been benefited bv high prices beyond the wildest dreams of a few years ago. That butter factories should be able to pay out la, and ckees* factories Is 2d, for butter-fat is little short of miraculous. A few year* ago, cows giving small yields on indifferent pastures, and the made article, butter, selling at 4%d at the stores would not bring in more than £3 per head per an■«n, at the outside, including everything —whereas now there are cows which re-' turn as much as £25 per annum, and last year's average was probably £8 or £9' for milk alone. Great strides have been made in this industry, the milking machine ha 6 improved the conditions under which farmers work, and, if kept clean, the milk is as sweet as that of handmilked cows. Experience alone will tell us whether the highly-strung, nervous 1 | cow can be milked as well by machines. Gradually, too, the milking yards are I being improved, milking sheds are being I erected, though perhaps not on the most j approved principle. Richard Henderson has a very instructive article on "An improved roof for the cow-house." in , this year's transaction of the Highland and. Agricultural Society's Journal, in which he condemns what the calls the eouple-roof—which consists of open rafters, collars and ties—as well as the principal roof, for the same reason that there is a want of ventilation, and that there are Tnanv places where dust and germs t can lodge, and cause the milk to be contaminated. The roof he suggests is carried on rolled steel irirders, which ) serve as tics to the walls, carrying a ' reinforced concrete roof with a' slight fall from the middle, and down the centre is a protected ventilator, running all the way along. The windows have a head-light, which opens inwardly, and these give a complete circulation of air and cross ventilation. It would seem to be well worth consideration in building, whether this form, although perhaps more costly, might not be a great im- ) provcment upon the present mode. \

The investigation as to to the cause of - "fishiness." conducted bv Mr. Keakes and Mr. Caddie, seems to have fotad the cause in a verv simple fault, over-acidity of cream. Although thev do not claim definitely that this is the cause,'until further investigation, there, is not a doubt that in the case of their'experiments, over-acidity was the cause. The pasteurising of cream has fceen found to J be a distinct benefit, though, .at first, it I sometimes had a "cooked" flavor., , It is now so much beyond doubt that a better butter can be mode bv heating the, cream and then cooling it, that, after this year there will- be very few dairy factories'' that have not installed a pasteuriser for,! this purpose. Mr. Brakes' figures rrfeke•? it unquestionable that the pasteurisihg.J of skim-milk and whey is also'a necessity, so as to 'stamp out tuberculdsis in' calves ami pigs; A great manvfactories ' are installing plants to do this, but in some cases the boilers willvnotgive the steam required for the working of the' factory ana, pasteuriser as Well, ■ sd tjhat' on the score of expense some: factories are not adding this important machine, which rflttgfgOon become imperative.

J ' CHEESE. The development in cheese factories J encouraged by the high prices, has been I considerable, not only in numbers and ] output, ,but also in advanced treatment. [ Hitherto, the whey which has been returned to the suppliers has contained an appTeeiablfr'amount of butter-fat, which can be. replaced by other and, cheaper j forms, of-.fat,, if necessary, in feeding whey, to, pigs 0 r calves. *Some- of the factories •have, therefore, adopted'a system of Skimming the starter arid the whey forlmtter-fat: and it is. said, that this hasjbe<enwonderfully-suefceeaful, kq much' so. that they have been able to pay out the highest price ever known ,in. the history of the industry, ■viz.;-la 3d to the-suppliers. The byproducts are' of course,.less valuable, ancb some other form of calf and pig food must be plied. This, no doubt, means' the rear- \ ing of fewer calves, and dairy cows must m the future become more valuable if I more systematic rearing of calves is not-' | adopted;

' The dairy farmer is, however, in his transition stage. Most of those who have done well in the business have taken the earliest opportunity to get out of it, either sell or lease their farms, or have adopted the share system of dealing with their land. If tli'cy have sold or Icas'ed their farms, they' are often cut up into smaller areas, necessitating houses and yards on each. The purchas"' er or lessee has, for a time, to put up with makeshift yard, and as dairying ia only carried out in the moister climates, the conditions for a time are not very satisfactory, but are gradually changed for the better by gentle pressure from the Agricultural Department, and in con- < sideration for the milker's own personal comfort. As more and more land is being brought into dairying'.this process is continually going on." It is the most wonderful instance of a successful industry T have any knowledge, of. It mis been quite a common prastice for'a company to start a factory, borrowing almost the whole capital from the bank, and for the farmer to purchase land, and pay nothing down; that is, to lease the farm with a purchasing clause; to 'borrow money to .pay for his cows, or to have them purchased for him and pay interest, and a weekly sum to pay off the cost; and even to get assistance to put up the house and yards, perhaps from the nearest storekeeper. Yet, with all these disadvantages, especially those of the "long price," as the Irish put it, both companies and suppliers have been able not only to carry this load, but to prosper under it. and to pay off their debts. It is small wonder that a, man with such a load to carry will, if the opportunist' occurs, sell out for a small profit to another man who is prepared to carrv perhaps the additional load. It is not conducive to good farming, but it is human nature. Truly, it is a wonderful industry which enables all lhi = to be done. Leaving 1 consideration of the daily farmer for J 11 ir> moment, to refer to it again later. I I will go on to the other fanners.

.MIPJOCLTURK. Tf lhe dairv farmer lifts mud and mainmitis to contend against, the agricultural fanner is in a mucdi worse plight. Although on (he whole he has done fairly well, it is doubtful whether wheat pays him for all his trouble, risk, anxiely and doubi. II is an exhausting crop, suitable only for a limited area of our lands and in proximity to a railway in a good climate. I'racl ieiilly all. or nearly all our wheat lands are in Canterbury. Wheat, is grown elsewhere for local purposes, but, not oftiMi in such quantities as to be sullieient even for this, and a great deal of Canterbury wheat finds its way to the Xorth T-land. as well as oats and potatoes. Canterbury has such a variety of soil and such a good climate, that fanners can compete .successfully in other districts, sometimes even with the locally-

grown article. For instance on the west coast of the North Island, where oats can be successfully grown, though in certain seasons rust is prevalent and the harvest time not always propitious, farmers sometimes cut all their oat crop I into chaff and sell it, and buy southern I oats for feed, Blights are bad enough in Canterbury, judging by report and what one sees, but in the North Island they are worse. Wheat, however, seems to be less liable to attack than other grains in New Zealand. Rust in wheat is often very prevalent in Australia, but here, fortunately, there is not much loss on that account. Tke worst blight that wheat-growers in Canterbury complain about is the want of suitable labor at harvest time, and this is certain to limit, iu coming years, the area devoted to this cereal. Generally speaking, however, the agricultural farmer held his own and did well. THE PRICE OF LAND.

I have spoken of the rapid development of the dairy industry. I should like to say a few words as to the result. The continual rise in prices has had a marked effect upon the price of land suitable for dairying. At first only the very richest of land was considered suitable, but a* prices rose, and the effect of the training given by the expert officers of the I Agricultural Department became general, this with grading and co-operation has improved the quality of the article; it also brought in larger areas of land, of not quite so good a quality. As prices rosp further, land at one time considered quite unsuitable was brought into use. The land of the first quality in a suitable locality besran to rise in a most remarkable manner. One resident said: "Land about here is rising at the rate of £1 a month." This brought in its wake the ! speculator. In any trade or business J when there is a boom on, he is as certain |to follow "as the night the day"; in ! some instances even, he was a benefit, in I giving those who were willing and able ; to work, the opportunity. This state of things is not conducive to good farming under best conditions. It was inevitable, however, and will continue until prices find their own level, which must be upon the basis of income derived. But if prices 'fell there would l>e a very serious time. Therefore, if we are wise we will not base our prices of land upon the capitalisation of our utmost income, i but leave a very ample margin so that in the event of a set-back, our income will still be sufficient for our wants, though curtailed. We are yet in a. transition .stage, and as new districts are taken in, and dairying become general, land then will rise to the dairying value according to the income derivable from it, and as the product is in a eoncentrat- j ed form proximity to rail is not of so I much consequence. So in the ease of I land suitable for lamb-fattening—here j again 'the process of adjustment has j gone, and is going on, wherever it has r been possible to fatten lambs it is being done. At one. time Canterbury was almost alone in this trade, and it is still the. largest exporting province of New ■Zealand, but with the use of Downs, it has been found that almost the whole of the Dominion has been able to adopt this system, and the wanner climate and (lush of grass in spring in the North Islaaul,has enabled large qpantities of milk lambs ,t<>,b'e turned off, even in the bush districts, where it was never thought of before. The fact is, we arc reclassifying our lands according to a new state of ■trade,- • It will easily be seen that during the .process I have been talking about,! there is no mention of population affecting prices and output. The human factor 'doesn't come in, except the coun-■■'tryi-'producer and' the distributor. Yet New Zealand has enormously profited by it. The railways have become profitable, the question of unemployment has scarcely been mentioned; in fact, the cry for more labor has been general. Does this not dispose of the cry of "unearned'' increment? Does it not show more and i more need of the encouragement of farmers and land owners, rather than the constant threat of increased taxation? IMMIGRATION.

T have already occupied more of your I time than I had intended, and will 'only j deaT with one subject more, viz., immi- - gratiom We cannot expect under present conditions of labor apparently any geueral scheme of immigration. The two: : most; pressing wan Is, viz., domestic help; and farm labor, are receiving assistance. As 'far as the latter is concerned, we all hope that it will receive more and more : assistance. Our first venture in the case of the "Sedgwick" ■ lads has proved a success. When j ■ wc' wanted the process continued, Mr. Millar said, "Wait until twelve months are up." We did so. On further application he said, "Parties are too unsettled." A change of Government occurred, and we at onec applied to the new Minister for permission to use the Übor Department as guardians of the hoys during their apprenticeship. This was refused. Another change of Government has taken place and I hope the new Minister when we again make the apnlicatipn will be more favorable.

We had a number of applications from farmers to take lads, and to pay their passages, but it is essential to the scheme that some responsibility should be assumed by the Government, so that the parents of the lads will know that they will be looked after in the Dominion, and to whom the lads can turn in times of difficulty. The Labor Department is the proper one to undertake this, and did so in the last case very efficiently. 1 am sure wc all hope that this system will be continued, for it means that the lads will be carefully selected; will come to a place waiting for them without delay in towns; they will be secure in good homes, and their interests watched over by a perfectly disinterested Department. It will be to the mutual interests of all parties concerned, and add much to the progress and advancement of the Dominion.