FOOD AND INDUSTRIAL BALANCE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 83, 8 April 1944, Page 4

FOOD AND INDUSTRIAL BALANCE

The proposals outlined by the Prime Minister for increasing the output of dairy produce should commend themselves to the primary producers. The necessity for increasing production of foodstuffs so that New Zealand will be able to meet her commitments to Great Britain particularly and to the United Nations generally is clear, and Mr. Fras<?r's statement of the urgency of taking all possible steps to ensure that the already meagre ration available to the people of Britain shall be maintained will be applauded. At a time when the United Nations are on the eve of undertaking their greatest task—the invasion of Europe—the need for maintaining and, if possible, increasing, the food supplies of the fighting forces and those who will face renewed trials and stresses on the home front stands out as one of New Zealand's main tasks. It has been evident for a long time that there have been factors militating against maximum production in this country—lack of man-power, lack of fertiliser, and dissatisfaction, among primary producers regarding the sufficiency of their reward as compared with other workers. All these factors are recognised—rather belatedly, it is true—in Mr. Fraser's statement, and the steps now proposed should go a long way towards overcoming them. It is evident from the attitude of the representatives of the primary producers who carried out the negotiations that the Government will have the full cooperation of the farmers. Although the proposals of the Government can be approved, the Government cannot escape responsibility for establishing the conditions which have made the proposals necessary, 'industry as »a whole has been allowed to get out of balance, and the chief sufferers have' been the primary producers. Greater rewards offering in other forms of employment have attracted labour from the farms and as a result producers have been unable to maintain production. Fertiliser has not been obtainable in sufficient quantities and herds have become depleted. If the Government* had taken earlier steps to meet the situation—and it cannot claim that the difficulty has developed suddenly—it would not now be necessary to apply measures which, however necessary they are and however effective they may prove to be, are not the soundest way of placing the primary industries on a satisfactory basis. The need for correction of the position in which primary producers find themselves today springs from past unwillingness of the Government to face obvious facts, facts to which its attention has been drawn time and again. Having at last been brought.to a realisation of the deterioration that has taken place, the Government has been forced to resort to subsidies and other measures to rectify a position that should never have been allowed to reach the present critical stage.