MUDDLING ALONG.

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2693, 12 February 1916, Page 12

MUDDLING ALONG.

OUR PRIMARY INDUSTRIES MENACED. Sir, —Eighteen mouths lave elapsed since war was declared, andl yet no method has been devised or means adopted by the Government for organising t-ho resources of the Dominion. Either through incompetence or culpable indifference, matters have been allowed to drift and muddle along in the fashion so greatly favoured by politicians, and! the policy of laissez faire— that refuge of the weakling and the spineless—has been pursued with consistency. Alter the outbreak of hostilities ordinary prudence demanded the appointment of a capable liian whose duty it would bo to place the industries of ths country on a stable basis, and to maintain them in that position as long as tho war continued, and inasmuch as Great Britain depends largoly oil supplies of New Zealand mutton, beef, 'Wool, etc., one is amazed to note tho attitude of indifference adopted by the Government, and the slough of ineptitude in which it flounders. No attempt whatever has been made to deal nationally with tho sources of supply. The I'rimo Minister cannot but know that districts such as Poverty Bay have been depleted! of their most experienced and skilled workmen for—the rantings and ravings of the professional agitator notwithstanding—llo class of citizen is more fully represented in the Army of Freedom, in proportion to its numbers, than the farming class. Students of political economy know well that it is the man on tho land, be ho sheep farmer or dairy farmer, that ultimately counts, and that is, and always will be, the,mainstay and tho backbone of any nation. Neglect the farmer, ignore his interests, strangle his enterprise, and load him down with burdens too great for human endurance, and eventually the country will be forced to revert to its pristine condition of want and penury. The members of the national administration know this to be truc» yet they 6eem incapable of devising means tor counteracting the effects which the withdrawal from practical farm work of so many young men—specialists in their peculiar avocation—must exercise on the prosperity of New Zea< land . ~, , In most industries it is possible for female workers to bo substituted for male workors that have enlisted, and with the most satisfactory results. It is not so, however, in tho' case of tho farmer, and it is a fact but too well known to thoso acquainted with tho conditions prevailing in rural areas such as Poverty Bay that several farms aro idle and unproductive bosauso the men who worked them have felt in honour bound to answer the call to defend their country'.from tho brutal attack of the modern Hun. Every aero of laud left unproductive from this or any other cause-is a direct loss, not only to tho Dominion, but also to the Empire. _ As the Parliamentary representative!! of the districts chiefly affected appear utterly incapable of successfully coping with the abnormal difficulties resulting from tho war, it behoves the members of the Government to .eschew verbiape, to ceaso electioneering clatter, to discontinue. newspaper interviews, and to set themselves to tho task ot organisation whereby the services of persons availabio may bo natioiclised, substitutes may be provided for the and farm hands who have noblj taken up arms, and the criminal •" as t° *hat » mill" on in so many parts ot the Dominion may be reduced to a minimum. SaS the young fellows in the towns, who are unablo or rmiulling to don khaki, he compelled to labour in the country districts that so greatly need their services? Why, •v sufficient number of the okilktt laim workers be retained in tho Dominion n order that their expert knowledge mavbo utilised in instructing suck yoiuid fellows in the essentials of a sucLssful farmer's equipment B,\ the nrlontioii of such a scheme the export o ■ nVuni and pastoral areas of the ssfetbr %«S paramount' importance so obviously demands.—l i> m > CIU - J A A _ ADAMS.