OUR PRIMARY INDUSTRIES.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 June 1918, Page 3

OUR PRIMARY INDUSTRIES.

THE FUTURE OUTLOOK. Said Mr. Harold Beauchamp, in his annual address to the shareholders of the Bank of New Zealand, at Wellington last Friday: During the currency of the war, I think we may expect to see high prices continue for butter, both for domestic consumption ar.d for export; but we may anticipate a substantial drop in values after the termination of hostilities. At the moment the exportation of this product from the Dominion is prohibited, as stocks are required for the home trade. With lessened importation into Great Britian, there has been a great increase in price, and this has stimulated enormously the manufacture and sale of margarine, the quality of which, by scientific treatment, has vastly improved. Thousands of erstwhile consumers of butter, through force «f circunis'ances, have become accustomed to mar» ;o, and these are not likely to revert ti- uutter if the price of the latter be fixed at too high a figure. Moreover, "with the return of hundreds of thousands .-of men to civil life, and the discharge of a large body of women now engaged on munition and other work, we may reasonably look for an appreciable contraction in the spending power of the people, and this will undoubtedly compel them to economize by using margarine in lieu of butter, even when the present restriction on the shipping is removed.Still, we shall always find an outlet for butter in Great Britain, but it is, I fancy, possible that prices, for some years, may be rather lower than those current in the 1913-1914 season. It is significant that many dairy companies in New Zealand, during the past few years, have practically discontinued the manufacture of butter, and are now devoting their attention to the output of cheese. The last named product, it is thought, stands a better chance than butter, because, it has been so extensively used for Army supplies. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers have become acquainted with its great value as an article of diet, and this will undoubtedly cause them to continue its use when they revert to civil life. However the competition of margarine will be a factor in determining the value of cheese, as well as butter, but to a considerably lesser degree. The demand for meat, and especially beef, should continue satisfactory. There is unquestionably a shortage in the flocks and herds ; ind until the equilibrium is re-established, prices are' likely to be relatively high and subject only to th-3 purchasing power of consumers. The increased production necessary to meet these new conditions and to maintain a level of prosperity can only be attained by scientific and intensive farming, which in itself implies small holdings and closer settlement, placing soldiers more or less unused to fanning upon land purchased at present high prices may do some good, but the times and conditions will call for more strenuous efforts than that. New land—especially native land —must be broken in, and that now in occupation must be made to j produce a great deal more.