PRIMARY PRODUCTS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXIII, Issue 236, 3 September 1943, Page 5

PRIMARY PRODUCTS

IMPORTANCE TO DOMINION.

"In my opinion New Zealand always has been and always will be almost entirely ■ dependent on-.its primary products for its prosperity, and no policy can be deemed sound for this Dominion which is not based on a sound policy with regard to land and the primary producer," said Mr M. H. Oram, the National Party candidate for Manawatu, when addressing electors at Feilding last evening. The candidate went on to, analyse the conditions*that would exist after the war and indicated that in all probability for several years to come there would be an assured market for our primary products in the markets of the world and that boom conditions even might be anticipated. "I believe," said.Mr Oram, "that one of. the worst things that happened to this Dominion was when butterfat was allowed to go,to 2s 6d a pound without restriction or supervision." The policy of the National Party with regard to the primary producer, said the speaker, had been formed in close collaboration with the farmers' organisations themselves. It was based on the policy of handing back to the producers the control, of the marketing of their own produce under the supervision of and with the assistance of all facilities of the State. The price to the primary producer, which would be guaranteed by the State, would be a minimum price arrived at after a survey of each industry with a ceiling price, the surplus over which would be retained to make good any loss that would occur if and when the price fell below the minimum price. Facts must be faced, said Mr Oram, and it was necessary to investigate every possibility of new markets and the development of diversified products.