WAR SACRIFICES

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 100, 27 April 1917, Page 8

WAR SACRIFICES

EVERYBODY MUST BE

PREPARED

MINISTERIAL REPLY TO DAIRY

FARMERS •

NEW: ZEALAND'S UNIQUE POSI

TION.

Interesting and pregnant", jemarks were made by the Hon. VV. D. S. MacDonald- (Minister- '"of Agriculture' andCommerce and President of the Board of Trade),to a.deputation of representatives of.North Island.-dairy-farming interests which waited on him this moming. The deputation discussed with him at length the, grievance of,, the threefarthinjfli per lb levy on butter-fat, '■which, it was urged, pressed very heavily on many small, struggling dairy fanners, who in several cases wore, as the result of the operation of the levy, earning far, less than, labourers',, wages. The cost of labour had gone up enormously, -and in any case labour was scarce, and in some cases inefficient, while -the- cost of commodities required in the dairy industry had^gone up from 30 to"50- per cent., although the price of produce had at the mtist increased by 45 pet cent REASONS FOR INTERVENTION. Replying, the Minister said the deputation had to remember that before the Government took action butter .was selling at. Is 8d per lb retail, although before the war the price at that time *of the year had never exceeded Is 7fi. They ivere. not concerned .about the price being, Is 86", knowing the high,price that it was reaching in London. Then it appeared that.the wholesale merchants were likely to put the price up to 1* lid and 2s a lb, and the question arose as to what the figure would ultimately be. As a matter of fact, if the Government had allowed speculators and others to run riot there was no doubt that .the price would have gone up to 2s 6d, before the i end of the summer. Personally he did | not think it "was" in' tne interests of anybody in .the Dominion tp rush Tprices up i and to allow speculators to have their I own way. However,' Mr. Mas'sey told , the whole of the dairying population, dis-. I tlnctly that if butter went tip; above" Is ' 7d he would prohibit expoit, but instead | of that the. Jhree-farthuig levyVwas adopted and a maximum price was fixed. He thought it was fairly pJain that the price was "a~fair one^abou't^jd per Ib more than the price ruling at that time of the year before the war. If the Government had- not \ taken,the steps it did practically the whole' of'the* butter in the Dominion would have been exported, or the Government-would have had to -purchase the whole or a. portion,' of the output at the^ rates then raling in 1 ■London. It was no pleasure to the Government to 'harass" the fannetin.any way. • NOT YET REALISED. A great many people did not seem jrefc. to realise where they were in connectionwith the war. '. Every other country in the world had'had to put up with Testriction of food snpply. - In- England the supply for every man, woman, and child was restricted, and. only so much meat, butler, and sugar, for instance, could be purchased. In -New -Zealand, we were absolutely free,' .'and higher prices for our produce than ever before, notwithstanding the butter-fat levy. They knew thit in other countries restrictions were imposed, and yet in New Zealand every section of .tho community appeared to think ' that "it wj^ singled out by the Government for unjust treatment with a desire to harees it in some- way. or other. There was no man or woman in New Zealand, except those who had. sustained the loss of .a s>on or a relative at the front, who was worse off as the result of the war. They were living in a paradise compared with those living in some other countries. Considering the prices and tho conditions under which they were living, he could not see any great reason why the farmer should make any .protest. No doubt the farmer lwd as"hard a row to hoe as'anybody, and in cases, owing to financial* obligations, they were up against a hard proposition, but those cases were exceptional, and no Government could possibly legislate for exceptional- cases. ■ As to the cases of men in the back country, who had taken up land recently, he thought it was a great mistake for them to complain of these conditions. Any one who purchased property, or stock at war prices could not expect those prices to be maintained after the war. ■ If they purchased jand on . the basis of butter at Is 9d a lb as against lOd before the war they must inevitably collapse, he-' cause they knew perfectly -well that no sane commercial man would expect pre- •_, sent prices to continue after the war was over! A WRONG IDEA. There -must be some lowering of prices (continued ■ tho Minister), and if people ,' made . their .financial rtirangements., pn " tho basis that-war prices would continue ■ after the war he would be sorry for tho ".' future financial welfare of tho Do- , minion; and "he did hot think that any- - body should be -encouraged •in the idea ■ that these prices would continue, because ', that' was absolutely wrong. There had " evidently been a great deal of dissatisfaction, and lie, was convinced that if he had had the opportunity of meeting -the dairy, people, throughout Naw ;; Zealand and of telling them the exact 7 position; therG'would have -been no moro - talk about it. However, ha had had . his hands more than full, and had boen unable to do so. 1 ' '.. _ __ SHIPPING SHORTAGE. The Minister went on to say bliat since the arrangement had been made there ', hod been a serious shortage of shipping, and even now thdre was no certainty of any ship leaving Kew- Zealand reaching its destination. In making its arrange- . ments the Imperial Government,had..put on one side all' questions of individual profit, or anything of that sort. .It did not want .to know how. much they could make out of the war, but how much they could afford to help to win tho • war. The Imperial • Government • had helped New Zealand as far as it possibly could, and the presence in Eng-' lajid of Mr. Massey and Sir Joseph Ward had been invaluable. If tliey had not been there we would have had • many more difficulties than we have had. He was quite prepared' to admit that fanners were labouring under great difficulties. It was no use anybody denying the fact, because they • knew that the great majority, of, the .labourers who understood that particular industry had left for the war, and the great majority of the farmers were working with makeshift labour and paying higher rates. UP AGAINST THE CRUCIAL TEST. The Government fully recognised the loyalty and patriotism-of those-engaged in the producing industries, but,,they were right up against a .crucial .test in connection'with tho war, and had -to make every possible effort. They did not want to see disunited sections of. the community. The Government could not carry on satisfactorily unless it had the sympathy and support of every section of the community. The tax was to be regarded as a war -policy- measure,-and when the war was overjhere would be a readjustment and matters would be Dut.

right. Ho could not make any promise at the present time, but he was very sure they would close the account'probably by the end of June, and it would be for Parliament to say what should be done after that. For the rest, they could be assured that every possible source of taxation would be tapped during the next session of Parliament. The Government had to get money, but whatever money had to be obtained for" war purposes, he hoped the adjustment would be made, in a.fair and equitable manner, so as not to unduly, affect any section of the public.