WHAT BRITAIN HAS DONE

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 15, 17 July 1918, Page 8

WHAT BRITAIN HAS DONE

TRANSPORT FACILITIES

SPEECH BY MINISTER OP

AGRICULTURE

rOTJTLOOIC'FOS NEW .ZEALAND

~ *" PtfODtJCE,

■■ Amazement .'at' finding the splendid state of. production existing in the country after just on four years of war was expressed by the Minister for Agriculture, at the- conference of the New Zealand Council of Agriculture to-day. Mr. Mac Donald added that the work of the Agricultural Department had been carried on under a great deal of difficulty, and they had not been able to assist the farmers so much as they would have liked, but, nevertheless, good work had been done, by the staff. Commencing froni 'to-day, there' was to be a reorganisation; of .the. Agricultural .Department. For the ..past ..nine, years. Mr. F. S. Pope"liad'"been Secretary "of Agriculture, and although a change was being made, he wished to say that Mr. Pope had been a strenuous and good worker in the interests of the farming community. It "had become, however, abundantly clear- that one head of the clerical division iii-as not sufficient to carry on with, and'it had'been' decided to promote Colonel- C. J. Reakes to be DirectorGeneral of in the Dominion. HeJelfc/siire Colonel Reakes would prove a most valuable officer,'and that the ap-pointment-.would be of great benefit to the.farming community; Air. Brown, of the,. Fields Division, was trying to assist producers in the matter of fodder, plantbreedfing,' etc., but-he had not been able .to.do.as much-as he would have liked. No Government Department was doing so;mjich'.forthe farmer, as was the Agricultural Department, said the Minister, and he referred to the benefit accruing through the Government grading of pro-dupe.----The-experimental farms, too, were doing'good .work. They did not profess .Ao.teach established trades, but they did profess to teach beginners who had no other place to' get instructions. These men could, go to the' experimental farms ;no(.:>.as a privilege,,but by right. : The Minister also defended the proposal of the Government to sell bulls from the farms by : auction. GOVERNMENT CONTROL NECES■:v.\"v■:::■::■■;•:••■• SARY. ■ . During the past four .years, continued Mr. Mac Donald, the Government had had to interfere with the farming industry as well as others. The shortage of shipping and labour had made it impossible to allow things to go on in the old order, and the Government had to take some measure of control of the products. "In regard to beef, mutton, .Jamb, and wool,' the _arrangements, made had, ho claimed, been of immense benefit to the country..,. While some people seemed to be anxious to get the uttermost farthing, he 'believed the great majority of farmers were satisfied that all possible 'had been done.m'their jnterests, and he could only say that he hoped-they would not beany *worse off in regard to shipping. "IMPERIAL"PURCHASE OF WOOL. Concerning wool, he felt sure the majority of farmers were satisfied. There ,was a certain amount of a-gitation being Raised on this question in New Zealand, and being raised unfairly, and they must remember .that the .agreement with the Imperial Government for the purchase of New Zealand :wool for the period of the war and twelve.months after had not bet been fully concluded. The question ;of slips and seedy wool was being con.sidered..-, At the-.Paris-.Convention certain arrangements had been entered into which' could' not 1 be altered until the termination, of ,the,.wars. .-...- He would ■not go so far s as to say that we should -hand-over all our-products to the Imperial, Government. Britain had done magnificent ,work in the war by financing her 'Allies and the Dominions, and she had cut.down her industries to all (but the very essential. It would take a very longtime to reinstate these, and he vb'elieved that .every...right-thinking man would agree that it was a perfectly fair i-proposition that the oversea Dominions "whose products England took should (agree that she should have control of their raw materials until she was able to ,re-establish her industries'. If she were only asking a period of twelve months after the war, was. not that perfectly fair? And. yet some people wanted the period to be three months! At present there was a very large' quantity of wool in the Dominion paid for by the Imperial Government. "SORDID COMMERCIALISM." We had for so long been imbued with sordid commercialism that we had al lowed England to bear the burden of the protection of our shores and the Pacific routes. Were they to go back to the old order of things, after the war, to the old'line of rushing to the highest market, and thus helping to build up other nations to be in a position to annihilate us ? . 'WHo was' it that had' helped us to JLmild our railways and roads? Was it not cheap money from Britain? Who provided us with'a market for our produce ? Was it not Britain ? The final ■arrangement in -regard to the wool purchase, he' again' reminded his hearers, had not been made, and until it was they should reserve their criticism. The purchase by the Imperial Government was, he contended, a very good thing indeed for the people of this country.

Continuing, the Minister regretted that the outlook in regard to the perishable products of New Zealand was not so satisfactory, but there was no question that the Imperial Government and 'the; leaders of the. New Zealand Govern•rnent at present in England were going earnestly into the question of obtaining transport facilities. In this direction, however, he must say-they were in a more difficult position than they had lieen. in before. The ''Government, Mr. • Mac Donald added, IB at present circularising all the fteezing'companies in .the .Dominion to ascertain-what power they had in view (A additional • accommodation which I might have Ito be' built. Something would have to, be done; the outlook was not too good. 'He believed they would have a fair number of chips during the next couple of months./.but after that he could not say. .': VALUE OF FERTILISERS. The Minister went on to refer to the value of fertilisers^ for the land, and stressed the difficulty of obtaining them. He referred to the ireport which is being prepared by officers of the Geological Division on the Y. -lime deposits of the country. It was a serious question, that of fertilising not only-the flat agricultural land, but also the hilly country. Farmers should lay down a concrete proposal ac to what they were going to do, and then approach the Government : not just with a series of bald resolutions-.!'in regard: ..to cheap railway freights,..e.tc.,..".,. : .. -... '*„— -; _AU jhadrgojt to 'realise that when the war'terminated New.Zealand would have albig burden' to'carry. Ho believed- that they would get fair and paying prices for their products, but it was all dreaming -when people spoke, of-4s per 1b for wool, 2s 6d per lh for butter, and very much higher prices for land. Even if it were to be so, would they be much better off? Would not wages rise,

accordingly, and land be taxed in proportion? No country, he added, was a better producing country than New Zealand, and so far as general products were concerned lie did not think farmers had much to complain about. THE WHEAT QUESTION. Turning to the wheat question, the Minister said the outlook for New Zealand producing sufficient wheat for her own requirements was not very bright. The farmers in Canterbury—a wheat growing district —bad had three bad seasons. Growers had done their best under most difficult conditions. They hud hoped for a surplus, but instead of that they were lucod with a, shortage which would necessitate importation from Australia. Wheat from. Australia could probably not- bo landed in New Zealand inside a year, but something must be done to try and get some as soon as possible. There should be, as elsewhere, a guarantee of prices, and another difficulty was that New Zealand had not faced the question of controlling all the means of production. New Zealand should not havo to depend en any other country 'for her wheat. Then, again, they could hardly expect tha farmer to go in for an unpayable proposition. There was a necessity for the Government to give every encouragement to the farmer in this direction. Referring to freezing companies, ho said that a, great deal had been said of trusts and "all that land of business," and probably legislation would be introduced next session dealing with the question of the control of the freezing works of the country. A good deal had been said about regulation at the other end, and of the free or surplus meat getting into the hands of trusts, but he contended that there was no need, for any farmer to sell a single carcase to any trust if he would take advantage'of tne opportunity existing to sell to the Government for the Imperial Government. A very large quantity had been sold in New Zealand to the men representing the very trusts which were being condemned. Many works had been built with borrowed money, and legislation could not be introduced which was going to inflict hardship on anybody. They must safeguard the interests of the lending institutions, and not do anything to prejudice their A security. There would have to be, too, a measure of Ministerial control. OTHER SUBJECTS. Touching on the rabbit question, the Minister said it was a most difficult one, which would have to be gone into, with a view to more drastic action being taken than had been the case hitherto. He thought the final solution would be to try and stop altogether the export of rabbits from the country, and use every effort to kill or poison or exterminate them in the best way possible. The Minister concluded by referring to the advisableness of the control of the sale of sheep dip. Tie trusted that when next they met the war \v9uld be over. It was now established that America had over a million men in tfte field, a-nd he felt sure that they had turned the last dark corner of the war, and were on the road to victory. (Applause.') Sir J. G. Wilson then read the following resolution carried by the Board of Agriculture yesterday : —"From the full information that has been placed at the disposal of the Board of Agriculture regarding the wool position, the board wishes to express its satisfaction with the terms offered by the Imperial Government, and to state that it considers that the acceptance of this offer by our Government is in the best interests of the Dominion."

On the suggestion of Mr. George Hunter, the conference passed a motion expressing the hope that the negotiations now pending for the pnrchase of New Zealand's wool by the Imperial Government be completed on the lines indicated as in tho best interests of the Dominion.

Sir Walter Buchanan suggested that to the motion should be added an indication that conference has no sympathy with the agitation to amend the Imperial Government's offer, emanating from a certain Eection on the East Coast.

Mr. Hunter thought it would be more dignified for conference to ignore the agitation.' and to this members agreed.