The Daily News FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 1922. DUTIES ON FERTILISERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 March 1922, Page 4

The Daily News FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 1922. DUTIES ON FERTILISERS.

The decision of the Government to remove the duty on imported fertilisers will be welcomed by all agriculturists in the Dominion. Although it. was only on the third of the preseent month th-qt these manures were included in the list of the present month that these rehey duty, owing to the Department considering that merchants abroad were obtaining an advantage to the prejudice of local manufacturers, it was plain to farmers- generally that the increased cost to them would far outweigh any possible prejud’. •>! that might affect local manufacturers. Considering that New Zealand is almost entirely a primary producing country, and that at the present time the farmers are experiencing a slump in prices that makes it very hard, and almost impossible, for them to make a fair living from the industry, ii was decidedly a false step on the part of the Government to increase the burdens and difficulties of that class which form the backbone of the country. The taxation of the requisites for ensuring soil fertility is akin to starving the horse in order to get more work opt of it. Admitting that the object of the tax was to protect British Empire manufacturers, including those of New Zealand, against unfair competition by countries in which the currency was considerably depreciated, yet there is no’ reason why the farming community of the Dominion should be penalised by adding -o the cost of fertilisers. An ordinary trader can pass on to the consumer any extra burden that taxation imposes. Not so the farmer, for he is dependent on the overseas markets, and has to take what he can get. Take, for instance, basic slag, for which there is a. large and increasing demand in New Zealand. The United Kingdom is now unable to supply the quality of this article as required by the Dominion farmers, and it is from Belgium that the most satisfactory quality is exported. Because Belgium has the misfortune to be affected with a depreciated currency, the farmers of New Zealand were to be made to offer. The same remark applies to the potash that is now available from Alsace-Lorraine, and, as no part of the British Empire is a competitor in that commodity, it stands to reason that to tax it was a move that, cannot be justified, in view of the fact that the prosperity of this country depends upon t.he primary producers. Apparently this aspect of the matter ha« at last been so clearly demonstrated to the Government

that the injustice is to be removed. The dairying community was particularly affected by the impost, for greater production is out of the question unless two blades of grass, and two roots of supplementary feed, can be made to grow where only one formerly was in existence, and this is particularly important in the case of the poorer class of land. By the beneficial application of artificial fertilisers much land that, in its natural condition, Was unfit for dairying or cropping, has been brought into profitable use, a fact that strongly emphasises the error of judgment made by the Minister whim sanctioning the special tariff on European fertilisers. The policy of the Government should be to encourage in every way, within reason, the producing power of the land. Hence the surprise that was felt at f.he retrograde step, the effect of which was bound to curtail the producing power, because the farmers could not afford, under present conditions, to pay the increased cost of artificial aids for stimulating production. It would seem that no efforts should be spared, nor reasonable expense grudged, in order to thoroughly test the valuable deposits of rock phosphate at Nauru,, as well as to cheapen its price. It is also a moot question whether it might not be advisable to obtain by barter with Germany such supplies of potash as will be of use to New Zealand producers, though that step should only be as a last resource. Meanwhile the Government has acted wisely in removing the impost.