King Country Chronicle. Saturday, December 6, 1930. THE PRIMARY PRODUCER.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXIV, Issue 3239, 6 December 1930, Page 4

King Country Chronicle. Saturday, December 6, 1930. THE PRIMARY PRODUCER.

The deputation that waited upon Sir Apfrana Ngata and the Hon. Mr. Masters on Wednesday last had a strong case when they asked that the Government should take some action to relieve the distress that prevails amongst dairy farmers owing to the low prices being received for butter and cheese. As the wool growers are in the same predicament, the whole of the primary producers in the Dominion are facing a grave crisis, the ramifications of which must in a short time affect every other industry and business throughout the whole country, and there will soon be a general state of chaos in commercial circles. One speaker said that the farmer could not reduce his cost of production, and this opinion will be generally endorsed by those who understand the position of the man on the land to-day. The delegation urged the representatives of the Government to call a special session of Parliament with a view of allowing a moratorium until the markets for dairy produce showed an improvement. It may be necessary to grant a moratorium, but this should not be done unless all other resorts fail. A moratorium is only a palliative, and the experience of this measure during and after the war was far from satisfactory. If the farming industry is to be placed once more on a satisfactory footing, the onus of this lies not with the farmer, but the Government in the first place and after that with every section of the community. The farmer cannot lower his cost of production by his own efforts. He must have the co-operation and help of all other sections before the present position will right itself. After the slump of 1921-22 a call was made to the man on the land to produce more. How this call was responded to is shown in the large increase in our exports for this last five years. It can be said that the primary producer has done his part in the progress and the stabilising of the finances of the Dominion. This was only-possible by sacrifices on his part. Any surplus cash he had was spent in top-dressing, improving his herds, and adopting in a general way the more modern methods of farming, and he was well satisfied with the results of his enterprise and hard work. As one speaker said at the meeting yesterday, the farmer has no liquid assets. His farm has been his bank, and now that the prices for the fruits of his labour have dropped to a level which will not permit him to pay his way, he rightly considers that he has carried the burden long enough and that other sections of the community should take a share. The granting of a moratorium only means putting off the day of reckoning. The really sound way to meet the position is difficult and involves many complications, but is the best. The cost of production must be reduced and there are several ways by which this can be done, all

of which must be put into practice before any tangible results will be forthcoming. Land values must be revised in every part of the Dominion, not in the rural districts alone, but in the towns where excessive values mean high rentals, which have a bearing on the selling and manufacturing of all classes of goods. The fact has been well established that farming lands are on a higher value basis than any other country in the world. These land values must be deflated, but the question is, who is going to bear the loss? Something has to be done, however, to reduce the interest charges, for there are very few farmers who are not working under a heavy load of interest charges through high land values. That there must , be a general readjustment of the wages system of the Dominion is without question. In face of the crisis that seems imminent in the commercial life of this country, it is impossible that the present standard can be maintained. It is not the labour on farms, dairy factories, or other concerns directly interested in primary production that must make the sacrifice, but also the Civil Service and industries throughout the Dominion. Overhead expenses in every direction must be reduced and

transport made cheaper. If Labour is going to fight any reduction in

wages it is doing a grave injustice to the workers. The simple fact remains that the dairy industry of the Dominion will be short by £6,000,000 as compared with last year, while if the present prices continue for the balance of the season the wool-growers will have even a greater shortage. This makes it plain that the country will have approximately £15,000,000 less to pay in wages. It leaves little to the imagination to realise what the position of the Dominion will be unless there is a sincere desh'e on the part of the whole of the people to meet the position in the right spirit. If the position of the primary producer becomes hopeless, which it undoubtedly will unless action is taken to stop the present tendency to drife, the outlook for all is most serious.