BANK RETURNS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1547, 1 February 1887, Page 3

BANK RETURNS.

A: meeting of threshing machine i owners was held last Saturday evening ' in . the; Royal Hotel, Temuka. Mr 1 Woodley proposed, and Mr Biteman t seconded, that Mr Siegert take the chair. Mr .Siegert objected, and proposed Mr lalbot as Chairman, but ultimately Mr i Siegert was prevailed upon to preside. 1 The Chairman said the meeting was I called so that they might, talk over the I price at which they would thresh this season. He had only two years' ei- I perience, and be found that threshing did i not pay at the ruling prices, and it was i necessary for them to come to some < arrangement on the subject. The farmers were getting better prices for their grain now, and he was sure they wouldinot 1 begrudge them another halfpenny per bushel. It was no use in screwing down < the wages of the working men, but they could not pay them at present prices, so he thought it far better that they should take council together and agree upon a price under which none of them would thresh. They could sign a bond that no one would thresh under a certain price. This was the object of the meeting, and be would be glad to hear their opinion on’ the subject, Mr Woodley ; Who was ihe first to lower the price t Mr Talbot said nothing could be gained by charging one man of the other with having been the cause of lowering the price. The way the price came to be lowered wai a farmer told a machine owner that so-and-so would do It for j so muob, and the machine owner sooner than lose it took it at the price named. I

e He did not' think one was much more to e blame than the other. He fully eyroQ palhised with the meeting, and hoped it • would result in a uniformity of prices as e regards threshing and labor, but he was afraid it would be no good if con* fined to Teraukn, as outsiders would jump in and bring down the prices. He had no great belief in these combinations, as r he believed people would not stick to i their promises, but perhaps they had now , enough of working at a loss to make them ■ stick together. He did not believe in * lowering the wages of the working men ; it would do no good, and it never did I any country good to lower wages. If low wages were good England ought to be the most prosperous country in the world. When he left there men could be got for Is 6d per day, and yet it did not seem to make farmers prosperous. But unless they rose the price of threshing they could not pay the wages. He bad worked out the result of a season’s threshing at 3d per bushel, and even at that price it resulted in a loss. Say that the plant cost £IOOO it ought to pay for itso'f in 8 years, and to do that a sinking fund of £125 a year ought to be put by. He placed the interest on the capital of £IOOO at £SO a year. Of course that would not be sufficient for the first few years, but the sinking fund would be reducing the capital every year, and this would render £SO a year reaaonab'e interest. He placed the coat of a season’s threshing of, say 60,000 bushels, as follows : Sinking Fund £125 Interest 50 Insurance and repairs ... 60 Oil, belts, cloth, tools, etc. 30 Coals 60 Feeder and driver ... 75 10 Hands at 10s per 1000 260 Total £640 That was what it cost to thresh 60,000 bushels, and if they took 50,000 bushels at 3d per bnshel they only got £626 ; they would be at a loss of £l6. He was sure be was more under the estimate ! than over it. There were some certainly whose machines did not cost so much, I and less would do them for sinking fund and interest, but they suffered incon- j veniences which would equalise the | matter. The mao with a first-class | machine bad generally the choice of the i customers, and the other machines ran j the risk of making bad debts. He was surprised that something had not been i done before, as it was absolutely neces- i sary. Clear of all a machine owner ■ ought to make Ids an hour, but nothing < like it could be made at last year’s prices. 1 As regards labor they had always, with 1 the exception of one year, paid by the * hour, and be thought it the best. Men ought to be paid for every hour they ) worked, and he did not think 8s per day y was too much, considering they had to -j work 12 or 14 hours a day to make it. j If something ia not done the wages could not be paid, and he did not believe in ( screwing down the working naan. He f saw one man advertising he would stack j straw to satisfaction. He would net like t to undertake that, as it might lead to j damages being claimed for not doing it to ( satisfaction, and he did not think it ought to be undertaken. The carting of water c ought to be done by the owner, but not ~ the stacking. It would do no good if . they could not get all in the district to * join, and he would suggest that another meeting should be called to consider the c matter. ' Mr Scannell said it could not be ex- 1 pected 'hat a portable would charge as 8 much as a traction engine. * The Chairman said a traction engine J should charge a farthing per bushel more, or let the farmers do the shifting, ' Mr Talbot said a farthing per bushel ' would not work. The owner of the 1 traction engine could charge £1 for 8 shifting. 1 Mr Bateman said he got paid for shift- 8 ing until last year, when no one would ■ think of paying him. , Mr Scannell said the only way it could be worked was that traction engines 1 should charge a farthing more. The . plan suggested would divide them into two classes, shifters and non-shifters. ’ Mr Talbot said it was a very difficult ' point. What brought the low prices i about was that the man with the portable j agreed to do the work at less so as to get it, nnd the man with the traction had to 5 come down also. The portable would in time be wiped out, and that would settle 1 the difficulty. 1 Several voices vehemently asserted it was not the portable men that brought 1 down the prices, but the traction men, j Mr Freddy said it was a bad thing when any traction engine came into the country. 6 Mr Talbot did not think that. If they ! had not the reaping machine they would be reaping with a sickle now. The thing ! would right itself, for if threshing did not . pay capital would not be vested in thresh- 1 ing mills. ! Mr Bateman accused the Chairman of ! being the first to bring down the prices. J The Ohairn.an said if a dog got a bad name it was bound to stick to him. He J was not the first to bringdown prices. 1 He never lowered the prices. Ho I threshed the first year at 3d and I Mr Scannell denied this. The Chairman said be was ready to ! show bis books. He was charging 3d and , had to come down to 2|d, and some other 1 body offered to do do it at 2£d, and he bad to come down to it. . ! After some further disputes as to who 1 brought down the price, Mr Talbot said | nothing would be gained by such arguments, It would be better for them to ' settle on something. Sis own opinion was that nothing less than 3d to 3£d per ! bushel wonld pay. He believed if the owners of traction engines stood out for these prices the portables would soon come up to them. ' Mr Scannell said the difficulty was as regarded the difference between the two engines, and suggested that the traction engine should charge one farthing more than the portable. Mr Talbot said that would make too great a difference to a man with 10,000 bushels. It would not work, Mr Scanneil ; The portable is cheaper, and can work cheaper, Let the traction engine owners raise the prices, and if they do they will find unanimity among the portable engine owners. Jf this was pot done it would be diamond cut diamond, Ho did | not care ho would lasi; it out as long aa the majority. After some further conversation to the I same effect, in which Messrs Freddy, Woodley, O’Brien, McCormick, Bateman, and others took part, Mr Talbot aug-

0 gested that tL- t iction engine owners - should charge Id* per 1000 more iba t portable engine orners. The portable s engine owhers would sot agree to this, ) and they suggested 20s per 1000, but Mr - Talbot said that would b 1 too much, > It was suggested to split the difference, [ and make it 16s per 1000, but Mr Ta'bot 1 thought this too much.a'so, and after tbe i question had been discussed at some length, Mr Talbot moved, and Mr i Scanned seconded "That the meeting stand adjourned for one week, and that in the meantime an endeavor be made to secure the co-operation of all owneis of threshing machines in South Canterbury.” in seconding the motion Mr Scanned said he would not be bound by anything the meeting agreed to unless fair concessions were allowed to the portable engines. Tbe meeting then adjourned with a vote of thanks to the Chairman.

The Bank returns for the quarter ended 81st December are : LIABILITIES. £, s. d. Deposits of Government... 411,740 14 9 „ Bearing interest... 7,156,527 12 2 „ Not bearing interest 2,824,817 4 11 Notes in circulation ... 907,700 18 2 Bide in circulation ... 55,402 17 7 Balances due other Banks 25,067 19 4 Total £11,383,247 6 11 ASSETS. £ S. d. Coin ... 2,206,058 12 11 Bullion ... ... ... 115,242 12 8 Notes & bills discounted... 4,259,802 10 10 Oslonial Government securities 27,550 0 0 Good debts due 11,589,063 2 0 Other securities 1,020,240 15 10 Total £19,216,657 14 3