THE Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1894. LOCAL INDUSTRIES.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2734, 6 November 1894, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1894. LOCAL INDUSTRIES.

Many years ago we devoted much space to the advocacy of the desirability of establishing local industries, and with considerable success. The industries were established, but they failed—partly through want of capital, and partly through mismanagement. The linseed factory was a succession of blunders from beginning to end, but this should be charged to inexperience. No one knew anything about it, and hence the trouble. But perhaps what killed it more than anything else was the fact that the farmers could not be persuaded to produce the raw materials. Wheat was then a good price, and it was useless to tell farmers that it might not be always so, or to point out to them the mistake of keeping all their eggs in one basket. Time brings its revenges. Wheat has gone down now beyond the paying poin , and farmers are dependent on it. Had the flax mill been in existence now, the farmers would have another industry ready at hand which would be far more profitable than wheat growing, but they allowed it to perish by not taking shares and by not growing the raw material. The same may be said of the butter and cheese factories. They, too, were mismanaged. Thousands of pounds were spent where hundreds would have sufficed, and thus the companies were involved in debts which they were not able to bear. Again the farmers refused to produce the raw material because an impossible price could not be given to them, and though the Temuka factory is still running it is languishing because it cannot get sufficient milk to make it pay. In other districts similar institutions have been a wonderful success, and the people supply the milk at the same price the company gives. This is the incomprehensible part of it. We have one of the richest districts in the colony—it is essentially a small-farm district yet less favored places are making the dairy industry prosper, whilst the local factory is languishing for want of support. Farmers grumble and growl and groan, but they will not take the trouble of milking cows, by which means they could add considerably to their revenue. It S no use for them to say it would not pay while others are making it pay. The real truth Is the richness of the district made life easy for them They had for more than half the year only to sit and watch their crops growing and their flocks increasing and multiplying, and thus things came easy to them, and they did not care about the trouble of milking cows. And they are fitting still vainly waiting for the time when wheat will rise in price again, and do not care for the drudgery attendant on cowmilking. Now they may as well make up their minds to one thing, and that is that wheat will not rU» in price next year or the year after, or perhaps fQV !W an y a year. Notwithstanding the low price, the quantity of wheat grown is increasing yearly, while th > consumption of it is decreasing. TJji ■ iwhat is happening at the present time. There is increased production and decre •seel consumption, owing to the fact that people are hard up. a nd have not the money to buy as much bread as they mod to. For this reason we see no prospect of a rise in the price of wheat. Railways have lately pierced wildernesses previously unknown, and are transporting wheat at a cheap rate to harbors, where fast and capacious steamers convey it to any desired port, and hence the overproduction and consequent cheapness of the staff of life. It is, therefore, apparently hopeless to expect a rise in wheat, and for this reason we should advise farmers to look about them and see whether they cannot do something else. Our Government has offered a bonus of £50,000 for the production of beef-root sugar, and there is no district in New Zealand better suited for growing beet than this is. This is not the first time a similar offer has been made. The Stout-Vogel Government made a similar offer nine or ten years ago, but it lapsed, as no one took it up. It is certainly not the fault of our Government if the farming industry is not prosperous. No other industry has been so well attended to. The farmer is everlastingly growling about his hard fate, but there is no other man for whom the State does half so much. It takes his produce to market by rail cheaper than any other commodity is carried, and it provides a small army to look after his sheep and cattle, and to teach him how to make butter and cheese -d crow fruit. The fact is, everything can be done for the farmer that - f ar as this district is is being done, but so . ’-bor in vain, concerned, at any rate,it is a m,. " v '- A few years ago the Government p-.*~ lished pamphlets containing valuable information concerning the dairy industry A large number of those pamphlets were forwarded to us, and we announced they could bo obtained for nothing by farmers calling for them, but only two farmers took the trouble. Now if the Government issued pamphlets containing “ a wrinkle ” for carpenters, or blacksmiths, or shoemakers, or any other trade, they would have all been taken up. We have known men who went to England and America to learn “ wrinkles.” Doctors frequently go Homo to got the latest ideas concerning their profession ; lawyers and other men engaged in pursuits where learning is necessary are constantly buying and studying new books to keep themselves up to the time, and so on with every class except the farmers. All classes are constantly on the look-mit for now ideas and an extension of knowledge. *• God helps those who help themselves.” If the farmers wish to bo assisted they must not think that they know more than anyone can tell them, and when generous efforts are put forth they must show their appreciation of it. The old groove of farming is now a failure, and their business is to look out for something better. The daily industry is flourishing all over the colony, why should it languish hero ! It is said that the average yield of beet root per acre is 15 tons, and that if it can bo produced at 15s per ton it will ho cheap enough to produce sugar, that can bo sold at a price which will defy competition, and that nearly half-a-million of money might bo kept in the country by this menus. There is, ye

believe, a small farm settlement to be established in this district shortly, and these settlers woold doubtless grow beet if there was a market'for it. It appears to us, therefore, that it would be desirable to ascertain what a sugar-making plant would cost with the view of growing Beet, and securing ihe £50,000 bonus which the Government offers. There can be no doubt that the land would produce beet,and there can bo no doubt that it would pay farmers to grow it, and for this reason it appears to us that it it worth looking into. Any effort of this kind, however, must be started on the co-operative principle. The growers of the beet must provide the money for starting the industry to render it a success. On previous occasions the townspeople provided the money, and the farmers refused to produce the raw material except at their own prices. The co-operative system would work better; every one would then secure the fruits of his own labor to the fullest possible extent.