OUTLOOK FOR FARMERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 June 1922, Page 8

OUTLOOK FOR FARMERS.

WOOL AND DAIRYING. SIGNS OF BETTER TIMES. An optimistic note was sounded by the Minister of Agriculture, Hon. W. Nosworthy, at the opening of the Waikato Winter Show, regarding the prospects of the primary industries of the Dominion. The Minister congratulated the farmers of the Auckland province on the manner in which they had faced the time of financial stress, and by increased production nad done their utmost to counter-attack the fall in the prices of the staple products of the country. When the wool and meat markets slumped the people had turned to dairying, and though there had been a temporary depression in the butter market the dairying industry had stood by the farmers and the country during the period of financial gloom. DAIRYING PRODUCTION.

The number of dairy cows in the country in 1921, said the Minister, was 1.004,666, compared with 893,545 in 1920, an increase of 111,212. The figures for 1921 showed that 38 per cent, of the dairy cows in the Dominion were in the Auckland province. The number of cows in the province had increased in the same period by 47,354. The number of persons, employed in dairying in the province in 1921 was 24,763, which was approximately 40 per cent, of the number employed in the industry in the Dominion.

The amount of butter and cheese produced in the Dominion for the year ended Atarch 31, 1922, added the Minister, was striking evidence of the manner in which the farmers had got down to work during a period of adversity. For the period mentioned there had been graded in the Dominion 1,764,308 boxes of butter and 844,387 crates of cheese. THE WOOL POSITION.

The Minister also briefly dealt with the wool position. He said he had just received information which led him to predict much better times for wool growers in the near future. With improved prices for wool, mutton and lamb, values would also rise to the benefit of farm- ’ ers and the Dominion generally. Recent ( advices from England stated that the ] sales of New Zealand and River Plate wool during the five or six months prior to April 11 were fully equal to a full year’s clip. That indicated that wool consumption was now greatly in excess of production. The excess consumption of fine wool was between 30 and 40 per cent., and of coarse wool about 15 per cent'. On these figures, said the Minister, the litvvks of wool hels by the

British Australian Wool Realisation Association should be absorbed by 1924. The beginning of that season should see the stores not only empty of old stocks, but also of the previous season’s clip. DEBTS AND TAXATION. Referring to the financial depression and taxation, Mr. Nosworthy said that farmers, by taking off their coats and getting down to work, were adopting the only means of working out the national ' salvation. It had to be realised that ! the Government had been passing J through troublous times —a period of war, strikes, and slumps. There had been a call for economy and retrenchment to meet the responsibility of war expenditure. To ensure Stability, Scotch thrift and economy should be the keynote of the Government and of the people. The burden of taxation was bearing heavily on the people, but he was thoroughly optimistic regarding the prospects of the country. New Zealand was the last country to feel the effects of the world-wide depression, and would be one of the first to successfully emerge from it. The Government was fully alive to the effect of heavy taxation, and would reduce it at the earliest possible moment. He could not say that a reduction tvas imminent. What would be the good? There was the debt and the interest had to be met. Action was being taken, however, to adjust taxation, so that it would be equitably distributed. The Minister added that he believed we were not far away from an era of cheap money, which was so necessary for the development of a young country.