FARMERS AND FARMING. No. XIV.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2131, 6 March 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

FARMERS AND FARMING. No. XIV.

Mn.K A\'i> PoT\TOhs. — These 'ir- other two w-iv uuri-ssary ,u tide- .1 him m consumption, .mil f >rm .1 fm proportion of Hip pioduif "f th fu n The fir>t production, th it of milk, Itieat in only one of its pit iic-., tint <>f th > Mipply yf our towns. Of course, this part of tho •Mibject < Mil' i m> the milk -uppliers who hiv<«th<ir fume within accrtiin radius of the town -i. For example, in tho c; t-<> of Awkliud wy a limit of about 35 mile-*. -Milk is a vorv lwo^iry diet, ••specially in tho case of an invalid aud of fhildicn, .in I a- in t'iN< wintry thel'ittor commodity U pai ticul irly veij plentiful, )ience tlic item of milk in tho family house-keeping is not, by any means to bo do<pw>d or ovor-look( d. Tho high price of milk in the towns n the moans of bringing down its consumption to a minimum ; whoieas at a moderate price tho milk bill might not be reduced, bub the consumption largely merc i-ed ; ami this without reducing the prices now receive! by tho farmer-. Therefore, an enlarged consumption would result in groat ben-fit to our families and the ftrmers. Juut for a moment contemplate such an .momily as milk selling to tho cheese factories for price* varying from 2/d to 3\d and 4 pence per gallon, nnd the fanners whoBiipply the towns getting from o r \ to 8d per tfillon. On this litter point I received my information from a. friend employed in the Auckland dairy trade i The retail price of milk in our towns is one shilling and fourpence per gallon. It is as well tojwrite the price, received by tho retailers of milk, in the ordinary way, instead of in figure-", otherwise tho frightful variation would appe.tr t'»o gluring, though it is mv bounden duty to bring this and all similar points out as clearly as possible. I have given the prices the producers of our town milk supply, receive at from 5 1 to 8d per gallon. As an average of this price I take 7^d per gallon. This price includes delivery at the Auckland railway station or sit the dairies as the ca^p, maybe. The consumption I put at a jrill per day per head of tho consuming population, who actually buy their milk. Now Zuland 90,000 for this province. A gill per diy equals 1^ quirts per week equ ils 30,3 15 gallons per week. £ s. d. 39.37.") 2ill<Vhs milk at 711 per gallou, . .. '.. 12*) 9 4 39.37') „ „ „ 1> Id pcrg.illon . . . . 262) 0 0 Difference between wholesale and retail of €1301 10s Siov a gr*»« perc^ut-ige difference of 1 1 4 per cent , oi a man having a cow that gives 12 quarts of milk per diy, sells it for Is lOi 1 tho lot, delivered in Awkhvid. The consumer pays for tho sune qu intity i-, or 2W more th-iu the producer receives. This 2Ad is the nice little item to be divided amongst distributers Of course there are the expenses to moot, as over measure, rent, insurances, expenses of distribution, and collecting accounts and risks, 'ay out of tho BVI per gallon which i.s tho margin left to cover those expense, we allow o% 1 per gillon, leaving thnvpen-e per gallon nott pi out or exactly 40 per cent upen the wholes ilo price of 7[sd. These socillcl dairies and milk .sellers ovii» all over the placj. This i.s proof positive that milk selling is by no moans au ill paid way of gaining one's livelihood. In fact just tho reverse, and tho-e of them who are lucky or smart enough to secure a large business must be accumulating surplus funds at no moan rate of increase, or in other words, m iking their " pile." I am not aware of that dishone-t but lucrative (when not discovered) trade of watering the milk tikm.r plice in this country. Then tho qne.-tionari.so-, are the authorities here a-, ftriet and as sharply on tho look-out for adulteiations as at Home? No.\t for tho niurphie-, tho potato, tho food of man and bei-t, the food of the Irish, English an'l .S;>t'li, bit pirti-ulirly .so of New Zcalanders. Moiui!i_r, noon, and night is this aitiele of food pl.ued upon the tablo in this country, or mostly hi. In faot, without inMt and pjtatojs m my of un would faro vorv b.idlv indeed. As to the selling of pot does by tho firmer, I'm bothered if we hiven't to. becmse we cannot help but, -tiuibla oviv tint can ion in tho cveilastinsr form of an auctioneer, we would willingly avoid him if wo could. I doubt it is the farmeis who are the victim*, and the auctioneer.-) tho vultures ever hovering aio mil to have a perk. The way potatoes aie generally dispobed of i« bv auctio i to the retailers or merchants. Either way is very undesirable. They mu 4 bo bold. Anyhow we me met on the \ery threshold by a "very he ivy cornmivion,' 1 levied by the^e Queen-street gentry, in the of a 7^ per cent., besides nice little pickings from cart.iire and tho loadinir and unloading of trucks if not done by consignor or cousignee, If a farmer sends a ton of potatoes to town and tbov .sell for, say, £3, he hn to pay an auctioneer 4s 6d commission, or Is 6d for every £ I, and 2s for cartage to the mart, or 6s 6d in all, only a very moderate or •'immoderate" charge; besides out of thi* £.J has to comu the railway freight, but more of this hereafter. In calculating the srrosi and nett profits upon potatoes I sh ill follow a liffercut than my u^ml cour.-e, aud take for my basts the production of tho province as given in the latest statistical account of this country a.> is ued by the Government. These stiti-.tics may or iniy r.->t be reliable; th it is a matter of opinion. Thefigures are for ISS3. Number of acres in potatoes 46i0, production in tons 24,740, average per uct'c 0.32 ton, equ il to about 4 Jowr. per head of tho 120,000 people of this province, but as we have only 90,000 or thiee-quarter-. to deal with, we havo a result of 18,') 35 tons of potatoes. As the farmers think families aud workmen will consume more *han 4 s cwtperh«ad per 3 f ear, we will reduco tho 18,555 tons to 14,1100 tons asactmlly representing the quautity of potatoes of this province which passes thiuu o h the auctioneer's hands in tho year, and taking an average price tho year round of £3 per ton wholesale gives tho following result : —

Equal to rather over 1 1 \ per cent, on the £42,000 or nearly (j3 lid for every ton of potatoes sold. This is the wholesale department only. In the matter of the retail, details are worse to average on account of the great variation in prices. ! I think a safe limit will be a 25 per cent, nett profit on the wholesale price, and another 23 per cent, to cover all expenses in connection with the retail trade, or a ton of potatoes when retailed out brings £4. 10s, or 30s more than wholesale, los of this going for the 25 per cent, and the other 15s for expenses, or 15,000 tons of potatoes at £4 10s, £63,000, for the year's transacuon*, and not per weak, as taken in the former instance. Hence, upon 14,000 tons of potatoes sold hh tho produce of this province for tho year 1835, at £3 a ton, equals £12,000 ; tho gain of £4J)00 by auctioneers and gross gain of retailers at £21,000, or €2u,900 in all, pqud to ol\ per cent upon the wholesale price, or neet percentage profit of 30^ per cent. All these huge percentage dilterences between what the producer receives and tho consumers pay is gutheriug slowly and sniely UUc a comiug thunderstorm, but only to burst over aud over again over the heads of our devoted aud long suffering pioducers of the absolute necessaries of life. So far I have only dealt with the farmer's position as a producer, and even not with the whole of that. His positiou as a consumer, as a taxpayer, aud as the chitf

user of our railways, must bo considered. Hido awee, and it will he my endeavour to de il with the whole, as uffocting his position, 'lll(l the welfare of tho country .it large Ut. Pwwiw.

14,000 tons potatoes, at £3 per ton 42,000 0 Commission at 7\% on €12,000 3150 0 Cartagu of 1 1,000" toni at 2s per ton . 1400 0 And say for loading 1 and unloading trucks, an annual sum of £3~>o, or (id per ton . 350 0 A total of .. 1900 0