PRIMARY PRODUCTION

Evening Star, Issue 23862, 17 April 1941, Page 6

PRIMARY PRODUCTION

NEXT YEAR'S PROGRAMME NATIONAL COUNCIL CRITICISED “ The National Council of Primary Production, of which the Minister (the Hon. J. G. Barclay) is the head, is definitely letting tha farmers down.” In these words, Mr W. W. Mulholland, Dominion, president of the Farmers’ Union, concluded this morning a spirited protest dealing with the fact that farmers have not as yet been apprised of what will be expected of them in the forthcoming season, “ There is no earthly reason why this information should not have been given to the farmers,” he said. “ There has been no meeting of the National Council since February, and during that time we have been trying to adjust the most serious crisis that primary producers in the Dominion have ever faced. I have stressed to the Minister and the respective officials again and again the urgency of getting out to the farmers the information as to’ what they should do in the coming season. At the request of the Minister, I stayed in Wellington helping to draft a programme. So far the only result is that a wheat programme has been published. Sinew then things have come to such a pass that farmers in New Zealand have every cause for complaint. Again I say that there is no earthly reason why the new season’s programme should not have been drawn up, particularly as it affects cattle and sheep.”