The Temuka Leader. THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 1889. THE FRIENDS OF THE FARMERS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1868, 21 March 1889, Page 2

The Temuka Leader. THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 1889. THE FRIENDS OF THE FARMERS.

The sudden rise in the price of wheat has led to curious developments in Christchurch. There the Lyttelton Times, with its customary devotion to the interests of the farmers, has been vigorously fighting their battle, but on the other hand the Tress is ominously silent on the rise in the price of wheat, axcepting in so far as that it has published little scraps now and again that were calculated to depreciate the value of grain. The Lyttelton Times has been attacked by Me G. G. Stead, a leviathan grain buyer of Christchurch, but the paper has still stoutly maintained that wheat is worth 4s 6d per bushel now, and that no farmer ought to sell for less. The Lyttelton Times has exactly taken the same view of the case that we have advocated in this paper. It has worked to open the eyes of farmers to the fact that the ring in Christchurch is trying to secure the fruits of their industry, and the ring is very angry with it for doing so. In this the Times has proved the true friend of the farmers, and such it has always been. On the other hand, What is the conduct of the Press? From the very first it has not said one word to cheer or encourage the farmers, but has telegraphed to California to see what wheat could be landed in Sydney for, and found it would cost 4s 6d per bushel. This, of course, was a bogey trotted out to frighten farmers with. The Press must always have a bogey of some kind. Its usual bogey is driving capital out of the colony. Whenever any attempt is made to make any change calculated to benefit the public at large that moment the Christchurch Press becomes terrorstricken, and screams that capital is being driven out of the country. This bogey of frightened capital has done duty on many an occasion for the Press, but it found that with regard to the price of grain it would not fit in at all, and so it has hit upon the bogey of the Californian grain. It got the information straight from San Francisco three or four days after the rise in the price of wheat in Sydney, and on last Monday again it has told us that a Christchurch merchant had telegraphed to San Francisco for a cargo of wheat to bo landed in Sydney at 4s 4d per bushel. We have not the slightest hesitation in pronouncing this a bogey to frighten timid farmers with, so as to induce them to part with their wheat cheaply. The Christchurch Press is owned by Messrs Peter Cunningham, G. G. Stead, A. E. G. Rhodes, M.H.R., and a few other wealthy men, and it may do farmers no harm to know it, as it may help them to distinguish their friends from thejr enemies. Mr Peter Cunningham, who is also a leviathan operator in grain, was for a time, and may be still for all we know, intimately connected with the management of the Press—-managing-director, if we mistake not — but whether the Press’s action in trying to run down the price of grain by a side-wind is due to that or not we shall not undertake to say, Mr Peter Cunningham was also the chairman of the Political Reform Association—those gentlemen who loved the farmers so dearly—and the Press was their organ, and the Press always loves the farmers very dearly too. Now, however, the Press is disappointed. The price of grain has risen too soon. It ought to have remained down for a couple of months longer, until the farmers had sold, and then go up. This is at the bottom of it all. Grain has risen in price too soon to suit the book ot the ring, and hence the commotion. Wo hold no share in the Lyttelton Times, we have no interest in it, and our only reason for referring to it is to point out to farmers their real and their sham friends. Both these papers publish weekly papers, which are conducted on the same lines as the dailies, and it may be of interest to farmers to know something about them, so that they may be able to choose the one

that suits them best. It ought to be the one that looks after their inton asts.

And now as regards the price fan uers ought to ask. The Lyttelton Ti mes insists that the proper value of wl mat at present is 4s 6d per bushel. 1 The Times may be right, but we would not advise any farmer to hold out for n lore than 4s per bushel. We have ad.vi sed them to the same elfect in a rec ont issue, and we see no reason for cba aging our opinion. Lour shillings per bushel is a very good price; it is ic iore than they expected, and it will ; pay them handsomely, What more n eeds farmers trouble about ? If the m er•/ chants make a profit out of it so mi ich the better. It will encourage them .to purchase more freely next year. If they get 4s per bushel for it th em trouble, their anxiety, their risk, ia at an end, but holding it in the hope of getting a better price they must of necessity run some risk. “There is many a slip between the cup and ti he lip,” and farmers ought at the prese, at juncture not to let the very pleasai it cup of 4s per bushel slip throug h their fingers.