ADREAMREDREAMT

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 60, 12 March 1927, Page 17

ADREAMREDREAMT

TEN MILLION NEW

ZEALANDEKS

FARM OR FORT?

SECONDAEY INDUSTRIES

IMPERATIVE

(By "Pescador.")

(The first part of this article, which appeared in .Saturday's "Post," dealt with the need for caution in estimating the increased production to be expected from intensive farming, pointed out that the most suitable land for it ■was already occupied, and, dealing with Dr. Ingram's vision of a population of 10,000,000, asked where these people were to be put to produce imports in excess of the imports that would be needed for them, and deprecated visionary enthusiasm as liable to involve the country in unproductive expenditure.) IMMIGRANTS ON FARMS. Besides areas of poor quality land ■which no serious effort has yet been made to farm, there is a ponderable proportion of farm land which has been robbed of its original richness by a procession of farmer-speculators. To make this fully productive again, it must be reconditioned. Neither this, nor the poor quality land seem to offer the best opportunities for immigrants without capital—not, of course, as occupants, but as labourers. Fencing, fertilisation, and cultivation costs leave no room for errors.

A far-sighted .afforestation policy, looking rather to the ultimate establishment of some durable timber than to immediately picturesque results to placate mutable national executives, would ho doubt accommodate many unmarried immigrants, and there are undeveloped possibilities in goat farming for their fleeces on climatically suitable hilly country too rough for sheep, ■while it might be found more profitable to exploit fur trapping in the colder hills than to exterminate the rabbit., Whatever is determined in regard to noxious weeds and pests, the concerted action necessary -will employ many immigrants. Fanning demands the best;-typo of labour. It means long hours in the busy season, and dependability, because the employee must often be loft to his own devices. It is not every immigrant who is suitable for farm work. Without some liking for the quiet of the country and an honest interest in the daily task, few stay at it, preferring the life and variety of tasks to be found in the towns. It is just as well, for there is not room in the country for Dr. Ingram's millions, as labourers.' As far as the routine operations which result in the dispatch of products to market, there is Jittlc left undone to-day.' The farmer cannot afford to leave it undone. The removal of noxious weeds, it is true, needs attention, but this is due to a reluctance to spend money that can bring in a more direct return. Otherwise, farmers, their sons, and neighbours, all combine to get through the work of the district now, and smaller holdings will not necessarily mean more hired labour, nor that a very large proportion of the new owners are former labourers. Persons who buy farms to-day buy them to work, and not to resell, because there is no longer tho desirable margin of profit in the ventures, and farming is becoming an exact science. Even with the cutting-up of some of the larger holdings, and the narrowing of farms to the limit of safety, it is difficult to imagine New Zealand with a million farmers, if stock is still to bo carried because the recent droughts in Hawkes Bay have shown what.the dangers of more intensive stocking might be Irrigation ia suitable only to small' and well-defined areas, and is moreover an expensive process. BALANCING IMPORTS. For the payment of railways, transport, and the tremendous debt from tfio war, Dr. Ingram looks to increased population. It is doubtful if the majority of the present population have seriously individually considered theso repayments. It is generally accepted that soon&r or later they will be liquidated by some easy form of taxation, but the idea is nationally relegated to the background as a matter for posterity, if necessary by the flotation of further loans. These are no longer the days of cheap interest, nor is it desirable that borrowing should be resorted to when avoidable. The repayment Qf much of this .money is arranged for, but there exist few countries of which the National-Debt has not increased, and it is probable that it would bo at least as heavy by the time New Zealand is fully peopled. For the Government to house, transport, educate, and philanthropically minister to the sick of mind and body of nine millions more people to the extent done to-day would be a bigger financial responsibility than the repayment of the existing National Debt, granting that each person in the country cost the Government only £25 a head, including the coat of assisted passages. By what increased exports could this crowded country hopo to produce an excess of imports over the automatically increased exports? Some portion of the best land would have to be retained to supply wheat. Intensive farming might have doubled or trebled primary products, but this would not have decreased the per capita purchases overseas. It becomes evident that New Zealand must either import less or export some form of manufactured goods to offset the imports she cannot do without. SECONDARY INDUSTRIES. Great though the agricultural and pastoral future of the Dominion may be, the land will not accommodate onehalf of Dr. Ingram's quota. It may be necessary to point out to him that if secondary industries are to employ them, they must bring them largely with them. Turning to secondary industries, the chief that presents itself with local raw material, and capable of expansion to a distinctive national eminence, is the manufacture of wool into cloths and, perhaps, clothing. There is no reason why a pound of wool should leave the country in its raw state. The manufacture of the product into fabrics would give employment to many thousands of people. While not so valuable nationally, the leather industry is in the same position. Amongst industries also'capable of expansion is the fibre industry. At present flax fibre is exported in its elementary condition, without the separation of the finer fibres that would enable a distinctive national industry in fabrics. Would Germany or America have left such a process undiscovered? -

Prom an Imperial standpoint it maybe doubted whether depriving Britain's great woollen manufacturing centres of thia and other similar work, and thus splitting up operations merely to transplant activities overseas, would enable as cheap production, apart from the wages question, but the gain to New Zealand in population would be an Imperial compensation, and any additional secondary industry that could pay its way would be a national asset. Gold winning, by mining and dredging, would no doubt be extended, but awaits the discovery of suitable fields. Other mineral wealth is more patchy, but the great lack is iron, without which there cannot be great implement and machinery factories such as keep vast

numbers employed in England. The future of coal, in view of the big hydro-electric works in progress, is uncertain, but the West Coast contains some of the finest coal in the world for export, and household needs will always exist. It ia unnecessary to enumerate other well-known industries already making headway or holding their own and finding employment for New Zealanders. Small industries are as valuable in the aggregate as those whose employees are massed in larger enterprises, and research and experiment have yet to establish many new concerns in New Zealand. Sea freights militate against industries depending on the importation of raw material, but, as a means of encouraging immigrants, they should be promoted with diligence. Ideal factory sites on tidal waters would attract many such small communities, were not Capital chary of transferring operations here because of labour problems. TRUE WAGES. Labour unrest has been blamed for the marked disinclination latterly to invest money in commercial enterprises, but it is Labour content with a fixed minimum wage- and a fixed maximum output which has lowered what should be initiative in one of the greatest national forces to a comfortable mediocrity. It has been frequently stated by the Arbitration Court that money wages bear no relation to manufacturing costs, which are determined by the co-operation of worker and employer and the amount of output. Until this ideal is reached in New Zealand, Dr. Ingram's taunt that the "men from England will take your jobs" will carry a sting. Inertia such as characterises Labour to-day will retard the standard of living possible to the worker. If Belgium or America show a higher standard of living for the wage earner than New Zealand it is because their workers have realised that it is better to encourage the employer to x>ay a minimum wage for maximum effort than to paralyse industry by concerted partial inaction.

The extent of the ultimate absorbtion of British stock by the Dominion fortunately rests with neither Great Britain nor New Zealand, but upon agreement from time to time. It takes few generations to accustom suitable immigrants to New Zealand views, and, as the immigration question is likely to be dealt with finally through the ballotbox, it is quite on the cards that any great number of immigrants on a working basis, whatever their expressed politics when leaving Home, would in a few years cast their votes against excessive immigration themselves. The "will take your jobs" attitude expressed by his Lordship will bo as unpopular with them as it is with the Labour Party to-day.

It Is not too much to say that the prosperity and progress of New Zealand are bound up with the principle of the minimum living wage as' fixed by the Arbitration Court. As a means of the gradual acquisition of a small capital enabling the worker to achieve independence, it has strengthened the value of residential properties, enabled municipal progress, guaranteed State advances, and it has become something very much resembling the currency in which investments are made, so much so that it has almost become a guarantee of national performance. The need for the stability of this national currency, as it were, is established. It must not depreciate, but why should it not appreciate ¥ With the gradual enmeshing of the nations in the net of credit, and the rising rates of interest, it must not remain the maximum as well as the minimum wage paid, or there will be no incentive for the extra spurt of production every form of industry must make or lose portion of its profits. Without profits there can bo no expansion, and without expansion thero must como unemployment, unless tho country is to stand still. None would seriously state that the minimum wage is excessive, but it has come to connote a minimum, output of energy, thought, and skill on the part of tho majority of workers. Framed for the slowest, least skilled worker, the wago is paid to all. The first employer, anxious to speed up his output in order to overtake increased interest' charges, who paid above minimum rates to those of his men who answered his appeal, would probably precipitate a strike by all his other workers, and would be about as popular with follow-employers as tho extra-paid workers would bo with all others, who m the slightest speeding up by some would see a threat of unemployment for others. _ No appreciation in national values is possible under those conditions. The cast-iron methods of industrial politics havo caused a deadlock which can end only with the scrapping of such methods. Tho minimum living wage need never disappear, but until individual merit of craftsmanship and effort is recognised, by both unions and employers, there cannot be the additional s'calo of bettor wages for the bettor man, which would give tho worker back his freedom and tho employer a means of recognising service, at prosent denied him. By giving the proportion of output withheld to-day the better worker would safeguard the slower or less robust man more effectively than he does now, and would gain himself besides guaranteeing investors in New Zealand's future. DOMINION'S DUTY PLAIN. There is much that must remain indefinite in doaling with a fully populated Dominion, because neither tho time when that will bo reached nor tho condition of other countries at that time can be foretold. Australia may be a self-contained nation, Canada an Empire of its own which may have absorbed a United States so vitiated by continued prosperity as to be unable to _ withstand the demoralisation of which signs are not wanting to-day. England may havo resorted to birth control through tho bitterness of further overcrowding, and tho need for emigration may have passed. Our transport methods may have then been long regarded as cumbrous and wasteful, and manufacturing improvements may have even reduced the amount of our" imports. But whatever the international situation, New Zealand's task is plain, and if Dr. Ingram's vision has done nothing more than draw attention to it, it has done a service The apathetic acceptance of tho unfortunate results of misdirected enthusiasms must be replaced by a studious scrutiny of our problems and a cooperation of national effort based on carefully thought out lines. Tho preparation of New Zealand for the population it must ultimately hold is a task demanding the best from every section of the community. Capital must be prepared to ascertain and open up fresli avenues of production and to risk itself more freely; Labour must give of its best for the wage paid; the State must be guarded in further expenditure in social directions, and thus encourage thrift and initiative in the people, devoting to research and the foundation of new industries funds which in the past have been expended, perhaps too n-Xh, to make life easy for a people little concerned with world parities-so long as tho annual record progress of New Zealand was announced, irrespective of tho inarch of the rest of the world.

Finally, there remains to be determined the extent to which New Zealand can absorb population and at the same time continue to provide the primary products which there is every reason to believe will become more and more valuable to the overcrowded heart of the Empire with the centuries.