Greymouth Evening Star. TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 1948. Eggs And Wheat

Greymouth Evening Star, 6 April 1948, Page 4

Greymouth Evening Star. TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 1948. Eggs And Wheat

IT is surely an extraordinary occurrence that, in a world desperately short of food and in the midst of a campaign tor greater production, New Zealand s Minister of Agriculture, Mr Cullen, should advise poultry-keepers not to increase the size of their flocks and warn other people against entering the industry. And then, as if realising that he has not sufficiently stressed the difficulties of the situation, the Minister goes further. lie suggests action which is tantamount to cutting clown the present size of flocks. “In fact,” he-says, “until the feed position becomes clearer, producers should be more than usually severe in their normal seasonal culling operations and only really good breeding hens’ and pullets should be retained in flocks.” , p r . 4 As an example of the failure ol. Socialist control, the Minister’s slatement is significant. But it is more than that. It is a shocking revelation. This is a primaryproducing country, and yet we cannot produce enough eggs to satisfy our domestic requirements, let-alone a surplus for export to needy countries overseas. The supply position is, admittedly, not so difficult in the smaller towns, but in the cities eggs have become a luxury for the greater part of the year. Where once eggs were abundant, they are now, to quote an official comment, subject to “the continuance of an equitable distribution, week by week, either on a percentage basis or related to butter registrations.” . There are two principal causes of the present position —the shortage of feed and the decline in the sources ol supply, Many producers have been regimented out, of existence since bureaucracy took oxei. The shortage of feed is almost entirely due to the decline in the wheat acreage in this country. In 1943, 286,999 acres yielded 9,819,000 bushels; last year the crop was 51368,000 bushels from 141,407 acres, the lowest on record. The reason is that, except in the most favourable localities, the growing of wheat is no longer a profitable venture" at the present fixed price. , . _ As a result of the Government niggardly policy in fixing the price at a figure still more than 50 per eent. below that which the International Wheat Committee has se f — all d the committee’s price is itself well below the ruling rate which the nations' are prepared to pay —we have been forced to scrape the bottom of the Australian bin in competition with Britain, which sorely needs all the wheat obtainable. The' Government has ignored not only the international price but also the ? cost of wheat production in this country in comparison with other forms ol farm effort, and instead has placed increasing reliance on wheat from Australia, vliicb is inferior to that which could be grown in the Dominion. A propci’ appreciation of our own (arm economy could make us self-supporting in wheat production and give us more selfrespect as an agricultural country. Ihe target of self-reliance, it has been estimated, would be achieved, il 350,000 acres of arable land were devoted to wheat growing. This was the normal acreage less than 50 years ago. The present Minister of Agriculture lias attempted to approach the issue in a realistic manner, but he has been hampered by his Government s past sins of omission and its const rioting policy. It has, of course, in recent times struck an almost pathetic note in its appeals to the farmers to grow more wheat, but at no stage has it made available to the public the basis for the assessment of prices.