COST OF DAIRYING.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 August 1917, Page 2

COST OF DAIRYING.

WHAT THE FARMER MAKES,

SOME STRIKING FIGURES. In the course of his speech on the Ad-dress-in-lJeply, the member for Egmont ?!ive Home illuminating facts and figures in connection with the cost of running a dairy farm. The House was much impressed, and accorded Mr. Wilkinson the unusual privilege of extending his speaking time. Inter alia, he stated:— Butter at Is 8d per pound is cheap butter; and I am going to ask the House if it is right that the women, and the children in many eases, should be taxed in this manner for the benefit of the Grand Hotel proprietors, the Midland Hotel, and the Royal Oak —for the benefit of members of Parliament, who receive good incomes. Is that a right thing? And there are lots of rich people who enjoy the benefit of cheap butter; and is there any wonder that resentment is keenly felt from one end of the country to the other in connection with this matter? In reference to the cost of production I have had estimates taken out, and I also have a balance-sheet here of the actual cost of producing a pound of but-ter-fat. It takes an expenditure of no less than £9O to run a cow, and a yearly cost of not less than £lB. Off this we must allow, say, £1 for a calf, and for whey or skim-milk, say £1 10s. This leaves £ls 10s as the cost for the year which must be made good by but-ter-fat. The average yield of butter-fat per cow is 1601b, and if honorable members will divide the £ls 10s by the pounds of butte*fat it will be seen that the cost of production is over Is lid per pound. Now, I want to give" a balancesheet showing the details of income and expenditure of a farm in the Province of Taranaki. which is the home of dairying in New Zealand. This farm is of good land, and it is owned by a good hardworking farmer. The farm consists of 222 acres freehold and 13 acres leasehold —235 acres altogether. The freehold was bought at £-10 per acre, an outlay of £8880; the stock and plant cost £1125. So that the capital expended totalled £10,005. The present Government valuation of the freehold is £7094, or £I7BO less than the price paid. Further figures are as follow

Ist Julv, 1910, to 30th June, Ml 7. ;C Interest on capital 000 Kent, 13 acres 0 Wages paid 230 Seeds, manures, cxipeiises, taxes, etc., 432 Owner's labor, 4034 lioure at. Is 6d 302 Paid for stock 120 J 702 Less sales of stock ..... .• 332 1370 Butter-fat 1401* Cr. 31 £ s <1 If tax levied at 3d per pound 52 4 0 Cost of butter-fat per pound 1 7J Received for butter-fat ... 1 ; "10,7131b.

The average cost of producing the butter-fat over a period of three years was Is 7d per pound, and the average receipts Is 7'/ld; so that the profit amounted to only per pound.

The Hon. Mr. Mac Donald: Do those figures include wages and salaries? Mr. Wilkinson: Yes; ] have allowed Is (id per hour for his work and what ho actually paid for labor, but nothing has boon allowed for his wife or family. The man to whom I am referring worked right throughout the whole year, including Sundays, and he made less than a wharf laborer would make in the same hours, and I think the House will admit that ho should be entitled tb the wages of the latter. He made a lbss of £l:il in the first year, a profit of £2Ol in the. second year, and a prolt of £3l the third year.

An Hon. Member: He should go to the front. Mr. Wilkinson: Did the honorable gentleman say that he ought to go, to the front? Lei, mo toll him that one of his brothers was at the front, and he died there. That is an unfair suggestion. The farming community have done their duty, and they are continuing to do it. The farms all over the tountry are being denuded of men. and they are still being called upon, 1 deny the right of any honorable member to accuse farmers as a class of not having done their duty. In the first year the cost of butter-fat was Is B',4d per pound, and the price received was Is (id. The next year—the best year of all—the cost of butter-~fat was Is 4Jd, and the man received Is "'/jd. This year the cost of butter-fftt was Is 7%d, and the producers received Is S.Jd. The average cost for the three years was Is 7d, for which he receives Is 7%d,'or '/id per pound profit for the three years. This farm is purely a dairy farm. The' fanner is a hardworking, industrious, and efficient man; and where you find the so-called profits made out of farms nf that kind you will find it is made by unpaid labor, because the women, and children are usually not paid wages, and that is where the apparent profit comes in.

The Hon. Mr. Ttussell: The land is too high in valiiL'. Mr. Wilkinson: This land cost £4O an aero, which is not too high for il.. I have given the cost of (lie land and the Government valuation. Tlio own;'!' worked eleven hours a day all the Year round, including Sundays—4,o.'!-t hours in .'llm days—and the employees, who got C_ 10s a week and found, worked lon hours a day, including Sundays. This ought to explode lite popular idea that the dairy-farmer is making a huge profit out of butter-fat. T do not thinkany member of the House could invest, in a dairy farm at the present price of butter-fat and make a profit out of it. The farmer to-day is, of course, getting a much better price than he got a few years ago; but a few years ago he did not make a profit at all—he made a big loss; and the only way he got squaro was that lie did not, pay wages. We get cheap sugar in this country simply because of the coolie labor in the islands, and the reason that butter-fat is being produced cheaply is because producers often do not pay for labor. If people work they should be paid, and so should the farmers, the farmer's wife, and the farmer's children; and if the consumer knowf the cost of production is - o much he will not ask an unfair tiling from the producer. The question of what a pound of lmtter-fat will produce was raised a little while ago. Mr. Anderson (Mataura): I move thfti the honorable member's time be cxp a,«d-

Mr. Speaker: It seems to be the general desire of the House that (he honorable gentleman's time be extended. Mr. Wilkinson: I am obliged to the members of the House. I wish to point out that lib of butter-fat produces i l-.'i lb of butter. The 1-511) over the lib is generally regarded as the cost of manufacture, including the casing of the butter. Therefore lib of butter-fat, as far as the farmer is concerned, will produce lib of butter. That is an actual statement of fact. The l-slb is regarded also as the overrun. In regard to cheese, (lie cost of manufacture has to be taken into account. A pound of butter-fat will produce 2 2-51b of cheese. These figures will, I hope, explode the popular fallacy of butter being over its real value. I am going to conclude by calling the attention of the Minister of Commerce —the Hon. Mr. MaeDonald was acting in that position during the Right Hon. Mr. Massey's absence in the Old Country—to a matter which might interest him, and that is in regard to the responsibility of the Government in matters of trade and commerce. Since the war prices in this country have increased very considerably indeed, and thero is not the slightest doubt that a fair amount of exploitation has gone on which I think might have been chccke}. It is operating very severely upon a section of the community. Many people have fixed salaries, and, their £1 being now worth under 15s, it is very difficult for some of them to live, or live in reasonable comfort. lam of opinion l-hat the National Government has not exercised sufficient control over price* In Australia the Government has taken far more stringent steps to control retail prices. There is a Board of Interstate Commerce, and there is a Prices Adjustment Board for wholesale and retail prices of different articles, which are gazetted from time to time, and no one is allowed to charge prices in excess of those gazetted. An Hon. Member: The cost of living has gone up there more than here. Mr. Very likely, because the conditions are different there; but the Government has done more to grapple with the matter. In Australia in no less than a thousand towns the price of bread has been f™d. Here the most notable attempt at fixing prices has been in connection with butter, and tlio Minister of Commerce has been rather unfortunate in that matter. To prove my case, I wish to deal with a few facts to show the exploitation that has been going on, and it is but right that thb

Government should know a little about the matter. We find in reference to a few items such as I will quote tliat for some lime past exportation."! lias been prohibited from Great Britain. That being the case, we can check up the cost of the goods fairly accurately, because last month some of the items did not come into the country at all; therefore we can check up the cost of the article by the price shown in i/a statistics furnished by the Government; and when I mention the prices I think the Government .and the House will agree that a considerable amount of exploitation has been going on. I will refer to a few items; I cannot refer '/) many, because I can only refer to commodities about which I can make definite statements. Where the value is assumed we caijuot get at the actual facts, but in the cases I mention we can. For instance, galvanised roofing-iron was prohibited from exportation from Great Hri'l'.in some time ago. and during May none of it came into the country. When we examine the Customs returns we find that for the five months ended May the average cost was £2O a ton. The Right Hon. Mr. Masscy.—lncluding freight and insurance? Mr. Wilkinson: These arc the declared Customs values, and there would be a £2 duty on it. At any rate, whatever wo put, on, there is a tremendous margin. As soon as those items were prevented from exportation we ought to have proclaimed wholesale and retail prices, and that would have got over the difficulty.

An Hon. Member: What is the price to-day? Mr. Wilkinson: I heard an honorable member sa,y it was about £7O. I think It is about £BO. Then, for the twelve months ended December, 1910, wo find that, the average cost was slightly under €25, which makes the case still worse. If we take wire we find that for tlio five months ended May the average cost of barbed wire was £25 a ton. Mr. Brown: I paid £49 for some. Mr. Wilkinson: That may be. For (lie twelve months ended December, 1910, the price regard to plain wire, for the five months ended May last its value was £24 10s, and in the previous twelve months ending December, 1910, the average price per ton was £lB ss. I am not saying anything about the retail price, and I do not say that "the man who sells at a big price to-day gets all the' profit; but the fact rpmains that if values had been gazetted on the prohibition of export that the prices 'would be lower to a greater extent than we have them today. That is the point. ] have urged ironi the beginning of my parliamentary life that wfi should appoint a Board of Trade. An Hon. Member: Do you not know that they were appointed? Mr. Wilkinson: Yes. I am going to I ell you that I should have thought these matters would have engaged their attention—that this exploitation would have been seen into, and that the Government would have put it right. The farmer who is paying the butter-fat levy has had to provide cheap butter for Iho gentlemen who make these big profits. lam also quite sure we might have controlled rot ail prices l to a greatei extent than we have .done. 'Tn my opinion, ihe State will have, iir the in•eresls of the people, to"take more careful note of trade prices and conditions to M'eveut more abuses. ' " ' The lSi»ht Hon. Mr. Masscy: I 'suggest iliai the honorable member should give me a list, and 1 -will ask the Hoard of Trade to inquire into iC . •(.•« f Mr. Wilkinson: I shall very glad , do so. I will finish 1 by stating ithat (lie Hoard of Trade should be more' active in these matters, and-if it is not active it be dispensed with..; It'seems to mo (hat whore it has made-a recommendation it has made a bad one, and where (here has been need for a recommend;'lion cheeking prices it.has omitted lo make if . T hope the Board will either mend its ways or else the Government will terminate its engagement. 1 firmly believe the Government must lak.: .up trade matters more and more, because (hose matters are connected r.ith ihe everyday life of the community.- and the community have a right to look to the (lovernment for more protection. Sir. these questions must be faced; ami I am quite satisfied, now that the Government has had the matter brought under its notice, we will find that a bettor stale of things will prevail. 1 thank the. House for its courtesy in extending my time.