TOPICAL NOTES

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10431, 23 September 1911, Page 5

TOPICAL NOTES

AFFECTING THE FARM. (By a Masterton Farmer.) ' THE BUTTER TRADE. Among the interesting items furnished by Weddel and Co.'is review of the trade of the past year, ending in June, is one dealing with the. /importation of butter into Great Britain. The amount imported last year was 3513 tons more than- the previous higjfoei&t wthich was l in the year 1907, and 34,883 tons more than was imjjorted ten years agp. Details of the amounts from • thte different countries from whdoh Oreat Britain draw® hier supplies show, that Canada, Holland, Germany, Italy and United States are steadily reducing their export of butter. Denmark, New- Zealand, Russia, France and Norway exhibit ho advance wMle Australia and Sweden slilow a) good increase. Thougjh figure® show no' increase in the amount of butter imported from New j Zealand, this , is explained by Weddjel's in tlie fact of this country having experienced last season except tionally; dry weather,, which proved disastrous to, many factories. That: thte. dairying industry of this country is not stationary, but on the ; contrary making considerable progress, is shown by figures dealing /with cheese importations last year, despite Unpropitious circumetanoes: Oreat Britain imported from New Zealand 20,256 tons of this product, as against 2700 tons nine years ago. Of aili countries from wihich, Great Britain draws her supplies, Australia reveals the greatest progress in the development of the dairying industry. Ten years ago the imports from this country of dairy produce only equalled one-twelfth of that of Denmark. Last year they equalled one-half—or in other words the industry in Australia' has increased in tern years.

FARMERS AND UNEARNED 'IN-. CffIEJMT/- •

Wlhile no reasonable person can douibit) that this new country owes an incalculable debt to those of its citizens who, amid many hardships and with severe toil, are slowly .but surely reclaiming its waste place®— and unwittingly winning the honour of being their country's best benefactors, in the fast of making many Wades of grass grow wihere none grew before—one is inclined to think (that seine c-f our farimers, or the 'accredited representatives of some of t their organisations, are disposed to h exaggerate just a little the value of ! the services of the citizen in question. Ignoring the inadequate consideration thlat is usually bestowed upon 'Kiature in the vastly important part she has played in the gen- ' ial climate- and fertile soil she has given this country, I would, though a farmer myself, dispute the contention of Mr Jones (the organiser of th« Farmers' Federation League) that the man on the land is wiholly responsible for the existing increment in the' value of rural Lands. To my mind the consumer liasplayed in the creation- of the increment in question a very important part. The .price we can extract from hiir. for our agricultural produce is the determining factor of our land "rallies. I well remember the time wfhen a goodi fat wether in the wool ■would only fetch eijptfht shillings, and butter only fourpence or iivepence a pound. In tihose days our lands, if convenient to a market town, ivould fetch ftiom five to ten pounds an acre. To-day, at certain portion® of the yeary our wethers may command- in the open market any-, tilling a pound to, twenty-five shillings, and we extort from the consumer $ shilling to sixteen p«noe a pound for our butter. Consequently we now see iri this district, our farm properties changing hands at from £3O to £45 an acre. H«noe in calculating the factors wihdch have played a part in existing high land values, some consideration should be given the consumer for the part he has played, even though it may not have been a willing one.