FUTURE OF THE PIG INDUSTRY

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 179, 26 April 1941, Page 18

FUTURE OF THE PIG INDUSTRY

Essentials For Survival

CONTROL OF COSTS AND EFFICIENT LABOUR

Dominion Special Service.

DUNEDIN, April 25.

“If the Government will control costs and provide efficient and intelligent labour, the p’ig industry will'survive.” said the chairman of the Otago and Southland District Pig Council. Mr. W. K. Cameron, at the annual meeting of the council on Thursday. “If, on the other hand, general costs to the primary producer continue to rise, then the destruction of the foundation of the industry, valuable breeding stock, is inevitable and a very serious setback must be faced. This is the. fact which dominates the future.” If New Zealand were to take advantage of the post-war world it, was essential that the pig industry be protected now. It should not be beyond the ability of the Government and its advisers to put forward a practical scheme. The time for theory was long past. “The breeding of recorded stock must go on,” Mr. Cameron continued, "or else the whole effort and expense of four years is gone for nothing. Primary producers want only the truth and cold facts of the situation, however unpalatable these are. Primary producers will be able to adjust their programmes but statements which are only half truths and which bear little or no re lation to the facts are highly damaging and tend to panic, which is always destructive. “This is where the National Pig Industry Council could be of supreme, value if it would function as a council of the industry in a practical manner and not as an offshoot of the Department of Agriculture. It is glaringly obvious that a national council should have one consideration. The Department of Agriculture must necessarily have many.” ■ Restrictions on Exports. Mr. Cameron referred to war restrictions on exports. The bald fact was that the export of pig meat was seriously restricted and that the restriction might easily be the introduction to a crisis, which was only being delayed. Turning to the work of the Otago and Southland council, Mr. Cameron emphasized that the work of the past four years had not been wasted. The results were seen in the progressive improvement in the industry. He gave his opinion that "Paddy will still pay the rent and the position in Otago and Southland will adjust itself sooner than anywhere else.” At .(all costs breeding stock must be preserved. The control key to the whole situation would be , the price.

Opposition was expressed to a proposal that the offices of the council should be moved to those of the Department of Agriculture, and a motion was carried that the present organization of the council not be interfered with, and that there should be no alteration in the pig levy. Another motion carried urged that a producers’ pool, comprising efficient representation of members of curing and freezing interests and primary producers, was a vital necessity to safeguard the pig industry, but that such a pool must be free to function without Government domination.