The Evening Star FRIDAY, JUNE 3, 1938. FARMERS IN TOWN.

Evening Star, Issue 22974, 3 June 1938, Page 8

The Evening Star FRIDAY, JUNE 3, 1938. FARMERS IN TOWN.

Winter Show Week is a period of the year which is awaited with pleasurable anticipation by dwellers in both city and country. It is a time for co-opera-tive discussion on problems pertaining to one or the other of these two sections of the community or to both. As the years roll by there is apparent a stronger desire than ever to arrive at a sincere and helpful understanding of what once may have been regarded as divergent viewpoints. If it can possibly be said that any good has been blown by the ill wind of depression we are at liberty to point out the fact that at no time in the history of New Zealand was the truth of a city’s dependence on rural prosperity driven home more strongly than during those dark years whose influence began to be felt nearly a decade ago. Since that era of distress the Dominion as a whole has won considerable economic happiness. Yet it must be apparent that all farmers have not been fortunate enough to share in the new prosperity. For ono thing, various districts have suffered from extremes in adverse climatic conditions that have militated against stability and the accumulation of a sound banking account. Droughts, floods, frosts, and pests have all taken their toll, with the result that, in these cases, the benefits of the improving state of affairs have not been obtained. The higher production costs, moreover, have affected a still wider circle. Most farmers and their families have had to tax their physical energies over a long working day, and, particularly in the dairying industry, for seven days a week. They have also had to study acutely the welfare of live stock, nurse their pastures and make the best use of soil, manure, and water, at the same time keeping their weather eye open for seasonal idiosyncracies. It is hardly surprising that increased costs, coming on top of the more conventional troubles besetting the man on the land, have been the subject of protest from farmers’ unions throughout the Dominion. The position is such that members of the farmers’ organisations now in town will have ample material for serious discussion during the next few days. Each branch of primary industry appears to be facing difficulties peculiar to itself. Some of those are amenable to amelioration through legislation; others are more the concern of “ the gods.” Whatever the results of these gatherings may be, it is good for farmers to meet their fellow men of the soil, if only for the sake of a healthy interchange of ideas, the formation of new friendships, and the cementing of old ones. Looking at the matter from a still broader viewpoint, the most casual observers must realise that the intermingling with city business men also has advantages for both sections. Winter Show Week is not completely taken up with stern business. It has its lighter side. Hearty participation in the entertainments offering should do much to dispel the wearying effects of past worries and sow the seeds of an optimistic and therefore helpful outlook on the future. Dunedin is proud of the type that has settled in the province of which she is the capital, and is glad to extend the warm hand of welcome to this week’s visitors.