The Press MONDAY, JULY 16, 1945. Primary Production Figures

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24619, 16 July 1945, Page 4

The Press MONDAY, JULY 16, 1945. Primary Production Figures

| Speaking in the Address-in-Reply j debate the Minister of Agriculture, ; the Hon. B. Roberts, maintained that ! primary production has not fallen j during the war or under the Labour Government. He upheld his contention with comparative statistics for the five year pre-war period and for the last five years, and with similar comparisons for shorter and longer periods. The comparisons need not be pursued, being largely irrelevant. The simple question is; Has farm production fallen during the war? The answer is Yes, and it is supplied by two official publications with which Mr Roberts must be familiar, the Statistical Summary of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and the Monthly Abstract of Statistics. The March-April issue of the formpr shows the following movement in volume of farm production, 1938-39 volume (100) as base: 1939- 102 1940- 116 1941- 11l 1942- 108 This means, as Mr Roberts know, that farm production fell in two years by 7 per cent.; and it means nothing else. The story can be carried a little further, but not as far as could be wished. Production statistics come forward far too slowly. However, the same issue of the Reserve Bank summary, in a table on the dairy industry, shows that, between 1940-41 and 1943-44, the New Zealand herd was reduced as follows: 1940-41. 1943-44. Cows and heifers 2yrs and over: (i) in milk .. 1,779,603 1,668,505 (ii) notin milk 167,195 175,185 Heifers under 2yrs 660,594 636,707 Totals .. 2,607,392 2,480,397 Production, in millions of pounds of butter-fat in that period, moved as follows: 1940-41 1941-42 1942-43 1943-44 471.5 439.9 409.6 387.8 The estimated average butter-fat yield for cows in milk moved as follows; 265 248 236 232 Pig-raising being an ancillary industry, the table gives the following total stock figures; 769,180 688.677 612,235 581,023 Finally, the Abstract of Statistics, which can generally be checked with the Reserve Bank’s Summary, in the issue for April 30 reviews dairy factory statistics for 1943-44 in some detail. A few significant figures and facts may be quoted: Butter-fat received for processing in 1943-44 was 20,000,0001b less than in 1942-43, and the lowest since 1931-32. , There were 71,642 suppliers in 1936-37; in 1943-44, there were 57,236. , In 1940-41, the average supplier sent in. 64641b of butter-fat; in 1943-44. only 58081b. In 1941-42 the dairy factories turned out 5,828,450cwt of butter, whey butter, and cheese; in 1943-44, their output was less by 1,257,558cwt —a fall of more than 20 per cent. Mr Roberts is not the first Minister to avoid such figures as these and to elaborate others, at a distance from the central issue. But he is Minister of Agriculture. The issue is first and foremost his. Before the Address-in-Reply debate is over he should be sharply recalled to it. Royalism in Greece There is hardly any doubt that the <“ Daily Mail’s ” diplomatic correspondent is on secure ground when he says, as he was reported on Saturday, that Greek Monarchists plan to stage an uprising if the plebiscite on the restoration of the Greek King goes against them, and, if it does not, to impose a dictatorship. All the Left Wing newspapers in London, he says, have for some time expressed anxiety at such a prospect, But his survey of the Greek political situation can be given a wider authority than that of the Left Wing newspapers. For though he declares that “ the Tory “ press has ignored the position ”, the fact is that “The Times”, for one, and'the “Economist”, for another, standing far from the Left, have pointed to the very same prospect. A week after the Plastiras Government fell, the Athens correspondent of “ The Times ” commented that the forces of the Right in Greece had come into the open. They had, he said, been working sedulously to consolidate their position ever since the collapse of ELAS in January; and it was they who had used a “ rather compro- “ mising ” letter written by General Plastiras in 1941 to unseat him. They saw in his “ fanatical ” republicanism an obstacle to their ambitions. Two secret organisations within the monarchist camp were “ definitely working for dictatorship ”, one of them composed of army officers, the other an associate of gendarmerie officers trained on Storm Troop lines. “If the “ Royalists are disappointed ’’, wrote this correspondent three months ago, “ there will be a grave risk of “ a coup d’etat ”, A day or two earlier the “ Economist ”, too, had reported that political tension in Greece was “ visibly increasing ” after the dismissal of General Plastiras; and it came to the conclusion that “plots and coups d’etat “ are now more likely to be hatched “ among those Royalist extremists “who are bent on forcing the pace “ of the Restoration than by ELAS, “ which is now almost certainly “ powerless ”. Moreover, the appeal issued in London by the ceritral committee of 'EAM, and also reported on Saturday, offers further 1 . evidence that the Monarchist move-, j ment continues to flourish. Here, I ! again, this story of a “regime of) i “ terror ” is persuasive. EAM and j

its followers. “ The Times ” corres--1

pondent wrote, were being penalised in various ways: Former ELAS men are beaten up, ! arrested, and tried on trumped-up ! charges. Hundreds of employees of public utility companies in Athens are j being discharged for what is described as “anti-national activities”, which ; simply means membership of EAM. Many of these men v/orked loyally j for the British during the German i occupation. Thus the Varkiza Pact, I which looked at the time of its signaj ture as if it might be the means of I ending civil strife, has become dead | letter. jThe Varkiza Pact, it seems, remains I a dead letter; and, so long as it is I uniionoured, the risk of fresh civil I strife is present. Nor may the j Greek troubles be thought internal I ohly. Already Marshal Broz has spoken out jjharply on behalf of the “ thousands and thousands pot only “ of Macedonians but of Greeks who “ have sought refuge in Jugoslavia . . from the terror of Greek “ reactionaries ”, and the protests anc. grievances of the Greek Macedonian Left have been given wide publicity in Soviet propaganda, which has thus, broken the silence it maintained during the Greek civil war.