FENCING COSTS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 January 1940, Page 3

FENCING COSTS

INCREASE IN MATERIALS. One of the main factors in reclaiming hill country pastures is more subdivision. It is to be feared, however, that this remedy will be applied very slowly owing to the heavy increase in the cost of fencing materials. Wire, as an instance, has increased in price during the last 12 months by approximately 30 per cent. In addition to the price increase, due largely to the war, stocks were down to bedrock before the outbreak on account of the import restrictions. According to evidence submitted to an Assessment Court in the North Island recently the price of wire had increased by approximately 50 per cent in the last four years. This increase was one factor in the mounting costs of production, which dairy farmers alleged was not taken into account when the butter-fat price was fixed. The detailed figures submitted to the court showed that in March, 1936, English wire was sold at £lB a ton, and a few weeks ago it was £27. with strong probabilities of still further advancing. Australian wire in the same period had risen from £l4 to £2O a ton. Fencing posts, which had been listed in March. 1936, at £l4 a 100 in 1936, were in March. 1939, £l7 5s a 100. The latter increase is due to internal causes, such as increased wages and shorter hours, and doubtless today's price shows a further advance.

On hill country these high prices make more subdivision prohibitive. On the dairy and mixed farms, where grazing practice favours the system of small fields, some of the costs can be combated by the use of concrete posts, although these are also naturally dearer than they were a few years ago. On the rougher hill country, the pasture restoration of which is dependent largely on smaller blocks, concrete posts are out of the question. The cost would be too heavy.