"GRAVE ECONOMIC DANGER"

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 47, 23 February 1917, Page 8

"GRAVE ECONOMIC DANGER"

CALLING UP THE PRODUCERS'

At the meeting of the Advisory Board of Patriotic Relief Societies yesterday, Mr. Dougall (Canterbury) moved: —

"That the Advisory Board begs to call the attention of the Government to the grave economic danger which will result from ' excessive enlistment of men employed in primary industries. The board also desires to bring under the notice of the Government the hardship inflicted by practically compelling men drawn in the ballot to dispose of their properties, and is of opinion that' Government action .is urgently .necessary to-secure the reten'.tibir'.ofv such*, properties to the owners and to prevent exploitation by unscrupulous persons." ■

, The primary, industries, he said, were seriously affected already. The area in crop this year had fallen from 329,000. I acres V", to : :.". 218,000 acres. Next year it would be : less. Farmers.' were | -taken" indiscriminately, and • some had had to sacrifice their properties to men ,"who"were" wealthier .than.,they, and they had to do this in the. service of theiicountry.", New* Zealand was o£ greater value as a producer.of ;;,.prime necessities of life than as a contributor, of soldiers at the present time, and he said that with'all respect to. the soldiers.- "Racing was still, permitted from one end,of the country, to the other, necessitating on race traffic employment -of vei'y large, numbers of men. Then the racehorses consumed, he understood, some 15 to 16 pounds of oats a day. Whereas if the norses. were put ■ out to grass the oats they consumed could be " put to more economical use. , There was no doubt about'it that-the' wffole matter required tiie'.u'rgent attention of.'the-'Government. Mr. Snodgrass (Nelson) seconded the ~m<jtion. •. Sir. Hope- Gibbons* (Wanganui) intimated that "the Government was fully alivo to the points raised by Mr. Dougall, and when the right time came it would be seen that provision'had been made, to meet' the" '.economic needs to which he had referred. • • The motion was carried. , .