THE FARMERS’ PROBLEM.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 February 1922, Page 8

THE FARMERS’ PROBLEM.

AGRICULTURIST’S 'OBSERVATIONS. ALL-ROUND WAGE REDUCTION. “Despite the fact that prices in London for most of our produce are higher than before the war, the position of New Zealand farmers to-day is almost desperate,” said Mr. F. Colbeck, vice-pre-sident of the Farmers’ Union Trading Co., in an address on “The Farmers’ Problem,” delivered at the Auckland Rotary Club's luncheon (states the Star). The reasons for this position, continued the speaker, were cost of production, freights, and taxation. Tn the case of meat, he said, cost of freezing and other charges f.o.b. had increased 130 per cent., and until a month ago it was IvO per cent. Prior to the war the cost of marketing was 1.55, while to-day it stood at an average of 3.5. Before the war the farmer received 80 per cent, of the gross price paid in London, while to-day he received only 46 per cent. Another important factor was the exchange values in the Dominion. Until recently it took two bales of wool, or five fat cows, or 20 qalves, to buy a suit of clothes, while three-quarters of a bale of wool, one fat cow, and a calf, or five calves represented the value of a pair of boots, and 10 bales of wool or 20 fat cows were equalled in value to the farmer by a ton of wire. HIGH PRICES OF LAND.

A great deal of nonsense was talked about the high price of land being the factor causing all the farmers’ troubles, and a lot 'of wild, schemes were being proposed to bring these prices down. The evil could not be cured by allowing a few fools who paid ridiculous prices to repudiate their debts. A man who buys, foolishly must, irrespective of his calling, abide by. Iris bargain, and not expect the Government, which was only another name for the general taxpayer, to save him from his folly. Labor was the governing factor in most of the farmer’s troubles, just as it was in the case of most of those present. Industrial concerns were producing at a price that the farmer could not pay, and that was the rock on which both\industrialists and farmers were being' wrecked, and unless an exchange equilibrium could be brought about by reasoning and legislation bankruptcy and starvation wages would be the inevitable result. The farmer was not opposed to high wages in themselves, because he recogi irised that the wage-earner was his best customer. He wished to see wages such that the worker could maintain the good and constantly increasing standard of living. Wages, however, could not be determined in £ s. d., upon an exchange relationship. Whether wheat was 2s 6d or 7s 6d a bushel did not matter so much as whether steel, food, clothing, and manure, etc., were on a parity of exchange. THE COST OF LABOR. While prices for nearly all raw materials produced by the farmer were below cost of production, nearly all raw materials produced by other classes of labor' were at record height. The finished articles were at ridiculous prices compared- with the prices farmers received for the raw mateials used in their manufacture. Could any fair-mind-ed person defend the conditions which brought about this great discrepancy in prices ? When deflation began the farmer, instead of closing down, working halftime or go-slow, worked harder and produced more than ever. Other industries I curtailed their poduction, with the result that they require less of the farmers’ produce, and, as the latter was producing more, there v yvere huge accumulations of farm products forced on to an ever-weakening market. This had the effect of widening the margin between the farmer’s raw material and the finished articles. Unless the price of farm products were brought up to a level with those of other industries, it -was inevitable that other commodities would crash to the farny produce level, and moral, economic, and social disaster would follow. It must be realised that the farm produce prices were fixed in London, where two-thirds of the Dominion's produce- was sold, p.nd consequently the New Zealand farmer must try to* improve his position by a reduction in the cost of production. As vicepresident of his union, the speaker said his union advocated: 1. Drastic reduction in the cost of government. 2. Reduction in wages all round. 3. Reductions in freight charges. 4. Better method of marketing produce in London.