BETTER TIMES COMING.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19063, 27 July 1927, Page 9

BETTER TIMES COMING.

IMPROVED OUTLOOK. MR COATES TALKS TO FARMERS. [THE PBESS Special Service.] WELLINGTON", July 26. The Prime Minister (Mr Coates), in an address at the conference of the New Zealand Farmers' Union to-day, dwelt upon the improved outlook so far as the general economic position is concerned, and especially, ho said, was the future brighter as regards our primary products. The Frinio Minister said that some of the remarks made by tho president (Mr W. J. Poison) required some qualification. One was tho statement that Mr Coates was "the man who gets things done." "Now, I want to clearly tell you that I never said such a thing at all. Others have said it, but I have not. I am there in my position to do my duty and to initiate and complete a policy that was initiated before the last election, and one which I hope to be able to put into complete operation.". Farmers' Problems. Mr Coates said that in tho whole of the British Empire there was not a Government that had the representation from the farming community that the present Government of New Zealand had, and he asked the conference to consider that he himself was a farmer. He thought in the terms of a farmer and the difficulties of the primary producer. No one was more anxious than he to arrive at a solution of the problems that faced the primary producers today, not only in New Zealand, but all over the world. It was true that in New Zealand the position was probably unique in one respect, that by far the greatest portion of our produce came from the primary producer. It was a world-wide depression or dis. turbance that affected the primary producers. Mr Coates said he was pleased to be able to say that for the five months ending May 31st of this year our exports amounted roughly to £27,000,000, and for last year our exports for the same period amounted to £25,500,000, the actual increase being £1,488,982. The imports for the five months ending May 31st amounted to £18,562,171, as compared with £20,999,905 for the same period in 1926, a decrease of £2,437,734, so that in regard to the trade balance we were better off by £3,926,716 for the first five months of this year. He thought that showed the effect of economy, also the tightening up of imports and the increase in .production, the latter largely as a result of the efforts of the primary producer. Better Outlook. "In my opinion," said the Prime Minister, "we have turned the comer, and We are improving our position every day, and the outlook for. the future is infinitely better than it has been for the last two years." The Tariff. There was, of course, the question of our markets to consider. He doubted whether anybody could follow a polioy of free trade and substantiate it, and neither could they follow a policy of Protection and substantiate it. Each item must be considered on its merits. It seemed to him that it was a scientific tariff which they must consider. Referring to primary products in a general way, he said the past year ad been most satisfactory from the point of view of output. "Our job is to see," said Mr Coates, "how we can improve the farmers' capacity to increase production still further. If the primary producers of this country are able to make both ends meet reasonably, the.rest of the community will share in the prosperity." There had been a satisfactory increase in the number of sheep. We were really about half a million short of the peak year. There had been a record crop of wheat. The figures and facts he had given showed that the farmers had been increasing their products and the sales showed a satisfactory increase in quantities. The Public Debt. A matter which had recently been discussed was the borrowing of the country. It was true that something over '£7,000,000 was due each year for the Public Debt, and of that over £5,600,000 was earned by the money we had borrowed. That was to say the users paid for it. Some people might .speak. of the Public Debt and say that we bad borrowed five or six million pounds and had to pay interest on it, whereas as a matter of fact perhaps £1,400,000 was expended on railways, electric power supply, and other public services, in addition to advances to settlers' liability, which latter was no debt at all in reality, because it paid its own way. There had been some comment in connexion with the development of the country and the borrowing of money. The policy of endeavouring to give the back-block settler access to markets had been clearly laid down. There was also the development side of the question to consider in this respect. He mentioned as an example the East Coast Railway and the North of Auckland Railway. He also alluded to the expenditure on telephone communications, the cost of which was not borne by the general taxpayer. He dealt with the question of roads in opening up the country. In conclusion," the Prime Minister said we wanted to look, to the future with confidence, and he thought we could look for much better prices and must do all that was possible to place ourselves in the position of being able to compete successfully with all countries with whom we were in competition.