Regimenting Agriculture

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21793, 27 May 1936, Page 10

Regimenting Agriculture

The Prime Minister's outline of the administrative changes which have been made necessary by the guaranteed prices scheme for dairy produce throws an interesting light on some important aspects of the Government’s policy. Mr Nash, who already holds six portfolios, becomes Minister for Marketing, thus making the problem of a redistribution of ministerial duties one of urgency. Mr Nash has already done most of the work involved in the drafting and passage through Parliament of the two most important measures of the session, the Primary Products Marketing Act and the Reserve Bank Amendment Act; within the next few weeks he will have to give his attention to the reorganisation of the Mortgage Corporation and to the framing of the budget; at the same time he will be engaged in organising the new Marketing Department; and, according to the Prime Minister, he will go to England before the end of the year to negotiate a new trade agreement. There is a limit to the amount of work that one man can do efficiently; and Mr Nash seems to be well over the limit. As Assistant-Direc-tor of Marketing and acting-head of the new department, the Government has chosen Mr G. A. Duncan, a member of the Executive Commission of Agriculture. The appointment is welcome both because Mr Duncan is as good a man as could be found for the job and because it shows that, despite his denunciations of the commission during the election campaign, the Prime Minister recognises that its members have an unrivalled knowledge of the problems of primary production in New Zealand. For the present the commission will continue to function, its particular task being to assist Mr Nash with the organisation of the Marketing Department. When that task is completed, says Mr Savage optimistically, the commission as such will no longer be required and the position of its members will be reviewed “in the light of the conditions then “ existing.” It will not be surprising, however, if che Government very soon discovers that the problem of harmonising and co-ordinating the activities of the Marketing Department, the Department of Agriculture, the various produce control boards, and the many other departments with functions relating to agriculture, is so complex that the existence of some such body as the Executive Commission of Agriculture is a sheer necessity. Mr Savage’s announcement that work will be found in the new Marketing Department for employees of the Dairy Board and that the Government will take over the London office of the board is interesting because it confirms our prophesy that under the new scftbme of things the Dairy Board will be stripped of its executive functions and become merely an advisory body. The dairy farmers may shortly be thinking wistfully of Mr Savage’s election announcements that, under a Labour Government, they would be freer to manage their own affairs.