AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY.

Waikato Times, Volume XX, Issue 1652, 6 February 1883, Page 4

AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY.

The rapid improvement of agricultural niacliinc'ry is almost a Source of embarrassment to fanners. A man bujs a machine this, year, and may be fairly \ve}l pleased \vith it, but next year ho finds Hut his neighbour lias a machine, meant for the same purpose, of a much more olficicut character^ and that his is quite behih'd the timc3. After seeing his neighbour's new' machine, he is naturally dissatisfied with his own, and he is tempted to throw it aside, or sell it at a sac^ifipe, audlay otit more capital in one, of the improved sort. The profits 6ri farm produce are so small that a fanner cannot well afford to 'use' implements and machinery which do not ctl'uct the largest possible saving of labour, nor can he afford to be continually laying out ficsh capital in order to keep up with the times, and, therefore, his position in this respect is one of embarrassment. Not a year passes without some improvement being made in reapers and bindeis, and those of the ncwes>t pattern have much ill their favour compaied with tho.se which came out only tlnee years ago. A I caper and binder is an expensive article, and the amount ot capital lcpreieuted by djiscarded wiie binders of the earliest pattern^ must be something very large. Those machines may be seen lying about in the last stage of dilapidation in coinuis of paddocks and yards in eveiy pait of the country. Yankee inventiveness must have succeeded in abstracting, a pretty large amount of cash from the pockets of iarmeis. The money for the most part has been well spent, but it is a heavy diaiu upon the country. The moial is, that the country should leain to make its own machines, and then the money which they cost would be kept circulating iv the country, and some portion of it would iind its way back into the hands oi the fanners. The reaper and binder enables a farmer to dispense with the labour of several men, but the value of the machine goes to the American maker, who does not buy or consumea farthing's worth of the produce of the Colony, while the men who aie displaced by the machines would be regular consuineis. No sensible man would piopose to throw aside the machines in oidei to encouiage a home market. This would be going back to the political economy of the daik ages, but it is most desirable that money which is abstiactcd from the Wtigcs iund in one diicction should be added to tho same fund in another branch of industry in the same countiy. The iioe of labour -say ing machinery tends to liicicase thcpioducing power of each individual, and therefoic augments the value ot thelaboiu of each pair of hands. AVhon the total agricultural labour of a countiy is applied to the land tlaougli the medium ot the latest machinery, the result, measuicd in pioduce, is greater than would be obtained ior the same amount of work if the implements lined A-ere of a primitive and mcllicicnt kind. Theio io consequently a larger amount of pioduoc to bo divided among those employed in glowing it, and tho •whole community is benefited by the mcicase ot production, tho lntnnluctioii ot a machine winch completely upsets the old older of tilings iv any one bianch of industiy sometimes inflicts a haidship on tlic working class, but tins has not happened m tlie ca&e of icapeis and bindeis. By 1 educing the nsk ot harvesting it has added to the geneial wealth ot tlie countiy, and has mci cased the employing power ot the faimois. Tlie labourer cannot make .so much in harvest as formerly, but ho can depend upon .steadier employment at other .seasons. Under tlie old system the e.\horbitant late ot wages in har\cst inipovciishod tlie fanner, and lie "was in consequence obliged to leave other work undone. Moreover, a great Jlush of wages at cci tain tunes of tho year is a temptation to inipiovidence, which, unhappily, but too many working men aie unable to withstand, and a huge amount of money which ought to go on to the land finds its way into the tills of the publicans. The man who works a machine, and the man employed in making it both add moio to the wealth of the countiy than a man occupied in purely manual labour. Diiving a reaper and binder, for instance, ie«juiics the exercise of more intelligence than binding sheaves by hand, and biain work is not only better paid, but is more hard woik. The use ot maohinciy, therefore, raises the uosition ot the labouicr. The moic intelligent and the better educated a man is tlie lc^s does he tool inclined to depend upon tho baic labour ot las hand-, tor a living. A machine is a kind ot lover, and tho nioie clhciont the machine; the larger is the puichasp. if v\ c have one set ot men using mac hums, and another class ot men making them, the community then dciivcs the greatest possible benefit fioni its ic-iouices, but if the machines aie ot toieign make there is an immense loss of piofit to tiie countiy in which they are used. In the simpler kinds of agiicultuial machines and implements tins Colony is now pretty well able to supply itself. The Colonial made plough.-, and liairow.s, beside many other implements are gi'iieiaUy acknouoledgotl to be supunor to the impoited ai tick's 1 , but for machines icr|iiiuii" delicacy and finisii ot woikmauslup we aio still dependant upon outside makei-.. It is in the nature of thing-., however, tliat a demand creates a .supply, but the facility with which the supply is foithuoming depends yieatly upon tho skill and entoi prise ot those most diiectly interested. A fanner, or anyone else, having libeity ot action, will always, buy where he can get tlie best \alue foi his money, but other things being equal, the local maker should always have tho preference. Local indu&tiy, however, is not to be mused and cockcicd up at the expense ot the producer. The niauuf.ietuieis' best protection against outside competition is his own skill and enterprise. Let him contrive to meet the wants of purchasers, and ho may then safely rely upon their support;. A farmer would be foolish in the exti cine to use an English or Amci ican machine when lie can get one equally good and cheap lioui a Colonial maker, and it may in the long run pay him well to sti am a point in favour of a, Colonial maker, considering the great advantage to him ot having a home market for the pioduce of the hbil.—G'uiiUrbtn 1/ Tumi,.

Tiik best way to shoi ten sale is to stop advertising. Wiiat'm in a name ? That which we eauli-flower by any other name would taste as #00(1. Tju. ill-treatment Sir Garnet "WoLcley lias (says the Home Nucs) rccchcd at the hands of the Corporation of Dublin is hardly likely to rankle in that distinguished otfieer's breast, lie has received M> many complimentary and substantial marks of public appioval that he can well forego the honor of being a free liurgcss of the Irish capital. "But it -was jews likely that lie would submit to the imputation cast upon him in a Dublin print that he longed for a chance ot crushing rebellion among his fellow countiymen in li eland. A question was asked in the House of Commons on the subject, and explicitly denied by Mr Childcrs. Since this MrMeCoan, to give .Sir Garnet a better opportunity of defending himself, wrote to the General, asking him whether there was any particle of truth in the allegations. Sir Garnet has answered in the negathe, and in the plainest terms. His letter deprecates the idea of any such dire calamity as civil war ever falling upon this country, ' but ho goes on to say that if such a misfortune should happen, he sincerely hopes he may have nothing to do with its suppression. "Such » duty," he says, "would lie of all others the most rfrpnguant ty his feelings..', Sir Garnet ends 'this. disclaimer by asserting that he is ' staunch to his country, and ho is certain m writer in the journal in'question can , bo , more, anxious than himself to boo "loyal, ' pcapeful, and .prosjpero.uB," t