Untitled

Taranaki Daily News, 16 June 1921, Page 4

Razors that <lo their work to satisfy you! Ordinary blade and safety razors of long proved high quality service. You will find these, and the beet approved strops, at W. H. Preece’s, Devon Street Central. Men, you should inspect lhese.

A LIBEL ON TARANAKI. The following paragraph is going the rounds of the Press:— “The times are very dull in Taranaki at present,” said Mr. H. Wills, who recently returned to Ashburton from a visit to the North Island. “Feed is very scarce, and J have never seen the paddocks so bare of pasture in Taranaki. Good dairy cows I saw sold at 17s 6d, 255, and up to £2 —cows which would have cost as many pounds as they do shillings to-day. Rain fell while I was in Taranaki, and was very welcome. A very large cheese factory which did not sell its output forward at the commencement of the season is only returning Is 6d per lb for butterfat to its suppliers, against the 2s 6d and 2s 4d per lb paid by the Ashburton factories.” This statement completely misrepresents the position, and does less than justice' to Taranaki. Feed is not scarce, except where overstocking has taken place. As l a matter of fact, there has scarcely been a time in the history of the province when grass has been as plentiful as it is in this, the middle of winter, which has been unusually mild. Grass has been growing (except in the higher lands) more than during the autumn, the former part of which was fairly dry. It may be said with perfect truth that we are experiencing our usual autumn weather now instead of our winter. The spring growth was very heavy, and bigger crops of hay were saved than for many years past. Root crops have also been uncommonly good. Indeed, Taranaki farmers have never before enjoyed such good conditions in regard both to feed and weather, and Mr. Wills speaks entirely without a knowledge of aHu-.J conditions here when he alleges that, feed is scarce, etc. Equally absurd is his statement about “good dairy cows” being sold from 17s 6d to £2! They must have been scrags or boners. They certainly could not have been of any quality, for good milkers command good prices. For anything of quality—grade, not pedigree—the price is £2O upwards, whilst for pedigree, well, the Ashburton visitor should peruse the report of yesterday’s Jersey sale at New Plymouth. He will notice that, despite the depression, and the uncertainty of the price for next season’s butter-fat, dairymen are still prepared to pay high prices for pedigree stock of proved milking strain. Mr. Wills speaks of a “very large factory” which did not sell its cheese, and will only return Is 6d per lb to suppliers, against 2s 6d paid by Ashburton factories. If he had mad? careful enquiry he would have found that nearly all the factories in Taranaki sold the whole or part of their outputs, and that the pay-out will average for the whole of the province quite as much as in Ashburton or anywhere else. In fact, the pay-out will easily constitute a record. Taranaki has never experienced such an excellent season in every respect. The value—and a conservative value at that—of the produce exported for the past year is £5.095,764, or £Bl per head of the population, as against £45 for the whole of the Dominion. It is a wonderful record, it will be acknowledged, for a province that is without feed and dull! We wonder what Mr. Wills’ idea is of a district that is truly prosperous! It can be justly claimed that conditions in Taranaki are better than in any other part of the Dominion to-day, which is saying in the whole world, because New Zealand is suffering less from the effects of the war than any other country. The depression, of course, is felt to a more or less extent, but business, generally speaking, is good and well up to the average of previous winters. Producers and the commercial community are optimistic of the future—as well they might be with such a highly favored province behind izhem—and have faith and confidence in the ability of Taranaki and the whole Dominion to weather the present economic and financial storm. It is a great pity that itinerant Jeremiahs do not more effectively use their powers of observation and enquiry before giving utterance to statements like the one in question, which is entirely untrue and misleading, and, moreover, constitutes a libel on what actually is the fairest and best province in New Zealand to-day, for the producer as well as for the business man.