THE Hauraki Plains Gazette. With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY “Public Service.” FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 1946. POSITION OF THE FARMERS

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 55, Issue 32705, 26 April 1946, Page 4

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette. With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY “Public Service.” FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 1946. POSITION OF THE FARMERS

Addressing a meeting at Lower Hutt recently, Mr B. V. Cooksley, president of New Zealand Federated Farmers, said that “farmers are losing ground numerically in relation to the rest of the population of the Dominion.” That may be so, and probably in existing conditions must be regarded as inevitable, but fortunately it does not threaten the place of the primary industries in the life of the community. Britain is a highly industrialised country but agriculture, it has been said, remains its biggest single industry. The aggregate marketed output of British agriculture and horticulture in 1938 was set down at nearly £200,060,000 and, during the war, but including subsidies, it was estimated to have reached £530,000,000 for England and Wales alone. , # As population increases' in this country the part of the farmer will grow in importance, and if other sections of the community fail to recognise that fact then they will be the sufferers. One of the most marked developments, in the matter of occupation, in this country is said to have been the rapid increase in' the numbers employed in what are classified as 1 services, and industrial growth no doubt will gradually effect here some of the changes already recorded in Canada and Australia. In those Dominions the domestic market now absorbs the greater part of certain items of primary produce and exports represent the smaller portion. But that test has 1 only to be applied her® to prove how remote is the prospect of internal changes affecting to any market extent the place of the primary industries in the national life of this Dominion. The position is not one that should be left to the residents of the country districts to deal with. It is the national economic structure that is based on primary production, and very many, probably most, people, in the towns and cities realise that fact. It is to them that the men on the land should be able to look for steady support, and the hope has been expressed by many city residents, that opportunity will be afforded spokesmen of the farming community to place their position, and their problems, before urban audiences. The growth of population, and the trend of employment will have far-reaching effects but they will not, within predictable time, change the basic nature of the primary industries of the Dominion. They should, in fact, make their importance more and more clear.