Farmers Urged To Press For Free Marketing

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28314, 27 June 1957, Page 12

Farmers Urged To Press For Free Marketing

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, June 26. There was only one way New Zealand farmers could test their efficiency and quality—that was on a free market, a prominent member of the British Liberal Party, Mr David Goldblatt, told the Auckland provincial executive of Federated Farmers today. “You have got to see things in an entirely new context,” he said. “With a free market you would know, for the first time, the full burden of your trouble.”

Intense loyalty to the United Kingdom was harming both New Zealand and Britain. ‘‘New Zealand must find other markets,” he said. ‘‘When a Minister goes abroad to persuade another country to buy your goods, that is only blackmail. ‘‘Farmers have got to become political, because politics are the very essence of your existence. “You must demand a free market ancf take the risks of a free market. You supply more than 95 per cent.'of your country’s exports. But why only to the United Kingdom?” New Zealand deserved to become a great influence for the future in quality, numbers and example, Mr Goldblatt said. “The ultimate decision on whether New Zealand does become a great influence depends upon the farmers.”

Mr Goldblatt described New Zealand as “a God-given paradise.”

“I’m enchanted by the country but find fault in every detail—and the Commonwealth as a prototype of what the world has got to come to.

“In my view, the Commonwealth is the most interesting experiment in united nations that has ever been launched; But I admit the United Kingdom is being selfish and not loyal -to the Commonwealth.”