The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. TURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 1887.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 2353, 9 August 1887, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

TURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 1887.

Kciua.l and exact justice to all men, Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political.

Tin;he is doubtless much truth in tho letter of “ i'armor .” published in another column, but thoso whom he takes to task for the present state of things arc not altogether blameworthy. Year after year tills journal has urged upon the settlers tho necessity for more systematic and energetic farming, if their occupation was to become a profitable one, and the very state of things which has come aboutwas predicted, as a necessity to spur them on to move vigorous action. They were not near enough to the hone to feel the necessity of making an effort, and the danger was always pointed out that when it came to so soro a pinch too many of them would not bo equal to the effort. It is much to bo feared that many besides our correspondent are in a like position, and a greater number, perhaps, on the verge of it. Wo havo entered on this matter with no intention of exclaiming, “I told you so,” when tho event has proved the correctness of the warning, but with tho sincere wish to discuss the really serious position of too many of the settlers, not of this district only, but doubtless of many others also. Too much of the farmer’s business has boon done on credit. He has bought cattle on bills, and the result of the speculation in many cases has been loss, seldom profit He is either in the hands of one or other of the monetary institutions themselves, or in the hands of those who are so. Storekeepers and merchants and auctioneers have to protect themselves, and are in their turn forced to realise upon those indebted to them. We have heard of cases where even the working live and dead stock on farms have had to ho sacrificed by the farmer to meet emergencies, and of course, where this is the case, the very means of extricating himself from further difficulties by ciopping his land are taken from him. Even whore matters have not reached this stage, where the farmer possesses teams and some labour, there is a certain expenditure necessary to be incurred in putting in, say, a crop of wheat, in providing seed, labour, and artificial manure to ensure a good return. With the continual pressure of liabilities, the money that should go to provide these is needed elsewhere to keep the wolf from the door. These are no exceptional cases. Thousands of acres of laud might yet go into wheat this season in Waikato but for this reason. And is there no remedy for this state of things! Can nothing be done to stay this financial avalanche which gathers as it rolls 1 It is to make a suggestion which Ave think may be of value that we have gone out of our way to refer to the letter of “ Farmer,” instead of allowing it to pass as the avail of a drowning swimmer beyond the reach and hope of all possible assistance. The large monetary institutions—for, in the present very necessary, and in the end no doubt wholesome restrictions on credit being enforced, we must go back to first causes—will themselves sutler if in meeting his more pressing liabilities the farmer is called upon to sacrifice the very means he possesses for working his laud. As our correspondent very justly points out, if this is allowed to be done the goose which lays the golden egg will be killed. What

wo could suggest is, that where a settler is perfectly solvent, ami of well-known industrious character, but hampered with liabilities (and many a man may be thus hampered and crippled in his business, and yet worth 20s or more in the pound) the banks should take his case in hand, clear off the pressure from auctioneers and merchants, and advance the necessary amount for putting twenty, fifty, or one hundred acres or more in wheat, as the case may be, taking a lien upon the crop as collateral security for repayment. They might do this with profit to themselves, with benefit to the individuals assisted, and with the indirect advantage of generally mitigating the depression which exists in the district. The great difficulty of obtaining a market for springgrown wheat in Waikato no longer exists. Of that the principal millers of the province have publicly assured the grower, and there is no lack of suitable land in "Waikato for the purpose, if only the means of raising a crop were placed within, the farmer’s reach. There are thousands of acres which, with the help of the proper kinds of artificial manures, would yield a fair and paying crop of this grain, and what a large breadth of wheat sown in the Waikato really means is scarcely at first realised. It means a solid money return imported into the district and put again in circulation through every vein and artery of our local commerce. ' Every extra thousand acres of wheat sown, if, say, jt averages only twenty bushels of grain to the acre, moans a sum of £SOOO in money, and £IOOO worth of fodder in the shape of the straw. Now, we may say without exaggeration that at least five thousand acres more wheat could be sown with the aid of such

assistance as we have suggested than would ho sown without it, and our readers and those interested can see at a glance what this means for the agriculturalists and for the district at large. It must he recollected, too, that there is no fear of over-doing the market. If Waikato sowed 25,000 acres of wheat, yielding twenty bushels of grain to the acre, it would not supply the requirements of one single Auckland mill, to say nothing of those of the more local millers. Nor would this cause the monetary institutions any very great outlay, one at all commensurate with the advantages not only to the settlers assisted, but directly to themselves, and indirectly to them also through the increased prosperity of the district. Thirty shillings per acre on the average for seed and manure would amount to no large sum to ensure a return to their customers, and through them to the district at large, of a sum of from £20,000 to £25,000 within the next six or seven months. Does this mean nothing! It means far more than the expenditure of double or treble the amount would mean in expenditure of public money on works in the district in the same period. In the latter ease, the contractor would clear out with the profit, a large portion would go to Auckland to the wholesale dealers for the goods and material used, and the larger portion to the publicans, who, for one pound retained in the district, would have to |end two away for the spirits consumed. In the case of the wheat crop the case is entirely different, the greater part of the money is drawn from Nature’s hank, and is left in the hands of the farmers themselves and their employees with but a small margin—not 20 per cent, taken out of the district to produce it. The matter is one which we earnestly recommend to the consideration of those with whom lies the power of carrying it out, and we cannot but think that if representations, by some of our leading farmers, were made in the proper quarters and the proposal calmly discussed, it might lead to practical and important results.