The Dominion. MONDAY, APRIL 10, 1944. PLAN FOR PRODUCTION

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 165, 10 April 1944, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, APRIL 10, 1944. PLAN FOR PRODUCTION

The public, and particularly the farmers, have been concerned for a considerable time regarding the manner in which the Government was going to meet the request of the British authorities for increased quantities of foodstuffs. It is a strange thing that the Government should have waited till Parliament had adjourned before making an announcement, thus denying the representatives of the people an opportunity to discuss the whole scheme and make such suggestions as they thought practicable. It cannot be overlooked that either late last April or early in May the Government was asked by the Home authorities to ration butter in the Dominion in order that the British people might still be able to obtain their meagre ration of 2oz. a week. Nothing was done till the end of October, and the opportunity to divert some thousands of tons of butter from the domestic to the British market had been lost. x If some comprehensive plan to stimulate production had been introduced then not only would the effects have been visible by this time but the Dominion would have been in an immeasurably better position to maintain its output at the higher level. The producers who last season had reduced the size of their herds in accordance with the volume of labour they could obtain, or who had gone out of dairying altogether because they could not get labour, would still have been supplying the dairy factories. Certainly the culling of the dairy herds at the close of last season would have been greatly restricted. More young stock would have been kept and be that much nearer the point where it would come into production. It takes a considerable time to build up dairy herds, and, however this plan is viewed, those in close association with the industry must feel deep regret that so much time has been lost. There can be little doubt as to the response, by way of intensified effort, which the men on the land will make, but a little foresight on the part of the Government, a little courage and initiative in taking action 12 months ago, when the seriousness of the position at Home was made clear, would have placed the dairy industry in a much better position to give the desired reply to the renewed request. It is difficult, if not impossible, to understand this prolonged delay on the part of the authorities. In at least one sphere of pro-. duction substantial progress could have been made ere this—the: output of pigmeats—had the producers been assured of a more equitable price and labour been provided. Australian farmers have had an agreement regarding pigmeats for some time, and covering the current and the following season and so were able to go ahead with their plans with every confidence. Individual plans must, of necessity, depend upon national policies, and here the required lead was not forthcoming. • . _ It is to be hoped that this delay will itself be regarded by the producers as a challenge. They now must lose no time, for it is safe to say that there never was so much dependent upon their efforts to increase production. The need could not be greater, for it is that of our kinsfolk in the United Kingdom who, after years of unparalleled endurance, are nerving themselves for a still mightier effort to defeat the enemy. The terms of the plan can be studied in detail as time permits, and anomalies can be remedied as they arc disclosed. What cannot wait is the implementing of the plan. The need is imperative. There are many aspects which will demand investigation, and certainly some that will have political repercussions—such as the virtual admission, made by the decision to recall men from overseas for work on the land, that the Dominion had over-committed itself and had thrown the national structure out of balance. But such issues, too, can wait. The immediate task is to restore the position as rapidly as possible. The admission of the farmers’ claim for an adjustment to meet the deferred maintenance difficulty cannot be sectional in operation and be regarded as equitable, and that can be adjusted. The demand is for an increased output. It calls fori close co-operation between the producers and the authorities, for it is quite beyond the powers of the men on the land to obtain added quantities of fertilizers. That is a Government responsibility. The reference made by the Prime Minister to the question of preventing dairy-farmers from changing their operations to some other branch, and especially the suggestion that those who had gone out of dairying in recent years may be ordered to revert to it, raise a serious issue, but no doubt the dairy industry organizations will have something to say when called in consultation, as promised by the Prime Minister, before any regulations dealing with the matter are issued. The Government has displayed such a lack of under-' standing of the problems of the dairying industry in the past that this suggestion may arouse some antagonism. Its application would involve so many technical difficulties that it is hard to sec what helpful purpose any reference to it could possibly serve. The communty certainly will hope that, if the decision has. been unduly delayed and the negotiations strangely prolonged, the response of the farmers —as on previous occasions—will be willing and effective, and that from New Zealand may flow ever-increasing quantities of foodstuffs to meet the needs of the people of Great Britain in these stirring and exacting days.