Farming, Land and Guaranteed Prices Discussed by M.Ps

Northern Advocate, 12 July 1939, Page 8

Farming, Land and Guaranteed Prices Discussed by M.Ps

[Per Press Association. —Copyright! WELLINGTON, This Day. rriHE ADDRESS-IN-REPLY DEBATE WAS CONTINUED IN THE HOUSE A OF REPRESENTATIVES YESTERDAY AFTERNOON BY MR J. A. M. ROY (NATIONAL-CLUTHA), WHO STATED THAT A CONSIDERABLE QUANTITY OF LAND WAS GOING OUT OF PRODUCTION AS A RESULT OF THE GOVERNMENT S PO LICY. In his own constituency there were areas capable of carrying twice the population and producing twice its present quantity of produce. Farmers, he maintained, were bu ying tractors because they were unable to secure efficient labour to man age horse teams, and the horse itself was practically losing its value on fa rms. State advances, as far as farmers were concerned,, had practically van ished, the bulk of them going to city properties.

| {, How Would Guaranteed Price Work? Dealing with the proposal to offer a guaranteed, price for meat and wool,

Experts Not Needed In Politics. The member for Tauranga had suggested, said Mr Carr, more businessmen in political affairs, but businessmen did not make successful politicians. Experts were not needed in politics. Parliament was a jury that should give justice to the people of the country. Members of Parliament had been called for duty, and they were not going to hand over to experts. Half of the troubles of the world were due to the views of socalled experts. It was possible to get ahead of public opinion, and it was also possible to lag behind it. In the guaranteed price the dairy farmers had the socialisation of distribution and exchange, but other farmers were not so lucky; they were subject to the dictatorship of stock and station agents, who, in turn, were the minions of trading banks, and they out-Heroded Herod. The House adjourned at 5.30.

Mr Roy said he ytes a practical! sheepfarmer himi- self. He was not| what could be W- termed' a wool-! JiVi- .•• T'.'i”-''.. - ' ■ king, **but was a! working . sheep-1 / farmery arid such/he was inter-; p ested in such a pro-! |i posal'but he would! , be grateful if, the

Government would give an indication ! , how such a guarantee was going to be worked/ He understood that petitions , were being' circulated throughout the ! country farmers to request the i; : Government to give a guaranteed ; price. \Who! would pay for a deficit £ it occurred oyer a number of years? For instance, ; jf there had been a guar- / antieed: price; during: the slump period, there would have been .a substantial . deficit, to be faced when the slump Bl'lendecL; Would this have been met by | the taxpayer or by borrowing? Who would fix the guaranteed price, and once theprice was .fixed would the Government guarantee to fix costs also? Would the price be high enough to enable farmers to compete in the I labour-market with other industries.

When the House resumed at 7.30, the Address-in-Reply debate was continued by Mr Carr, who said he believed the people of New Zealand demanded true democracy in the Dominion; they did not wish to be ruled by overseas financiers. Mr Doidge’s Maiden Speech.

Mr F. W. Doidge (National —Tauranga) who was making his maiden speech, said the mover of the address had challenged the Opposition to mention one item of increased cost of living created as a result of the Government’s policy. He would like to mention one item, for instance wheat, which was purchased for 1/11 in Australia and cost the Tauranga wheat buyers 8/2. Government members had also predicted the return of a Labour Government in Australia, but /he believed that as a result of New Zealand’s experiment in Socialism that Labour would be kept out of office in the Commonwealth for at least a generation.

‘ . Wheat Shortage. iy\, Mr Roy continued by pointing out ‘that the country was not now proInducing sufficient wheat for the needs ! of the people despite the introduction of fixed prices and modern machinery. ; He also advocated conjpulsory military training, and considered New Zealand $ should secure the services of some I authority from Home to take charge if the training of the land forces in he same manner as a previous Govirnment had adopted in securing the ervices of General Sir Alexander Jodley before the War. Farmers Charged) With Discrediting i'-i Mr L. G. Lowry (Government — )taki) said something would have to v: be done to win back young men to the land. Their unwillingness to take

Bury The Past. Referring to Mr Savage’s speech in the House last week, Mr Doidge requested the Prime Minister to cease repetition in his speeches to the depression and soup kitchens, old clothes, charladies, etc. He .also invited Mr Savage to give balance-sheets of concerns dependent on rural indus-

_on farming was I largely ' due to the I attitude of the I farmers themselves. | How could they be i expected to go I farming when the I farmers said there I was but ruin on I the land? One I could say quite a I lot about defence. Ihe continued, but there was no doubt in his own mind

tries as opposed

to balance sheets of city and totalizator figures. Mr Doidge further deprecated Mr Savage’s attack on the press and allegations that news was sent to London by New Zealand journalists and then cabled back here again. False Pretences. Mr Doidge declared that the general election was won by the Government on a policy of false pretences. We were told, he said, that the prosperity which prevailed was due to the administration of the Labour Government, and that it would continue. Within one month of Labour’s return, however, Mr. Savage had declared a state of emergency. Mr. Doidge proceeded to criticise the Government’s restrictions on permitting money to leave New Zealand, and said the Dominion’s credit had suffered severely at Home. Attack on English Market.

that:the -Minister of . Defence was doing excellent service. There were men on the Government side of the House who served during the War, and were '/'prepared to. serve again, .not' because |ff ; they wanted to go to war but because they, were-fully prepared to defend p the country’s heritage. As far as the | voluntary system was concerned, he was of the opinion it was succeeding, and. everything that could be done | was being done. Money being spent on Public Works, he said, was being | well spent, and would be reflected in the future in , increased production. I The Government would stand or fall by the import restrictions. The Government was composed of men of sufH 'ficient calibre to grapple with difficulties as they -arose, and overcome | them without causing the suffering | which had occurred during the slump years.

Referring to Mr. Nash’s visit to England, Mr: Doidge said the London market was essential to New Zealand’s prosperity. Britain’s agricultural policy under the new Minister of Agriculture, Sir Dorman Smith, was undergoing an important change by way of England becoming more self-supporting. Yet at such a time, the New Zealand Government was talking of insulation. Time to Call Halt. Mr. Doidge dealt at length with New Zealand’s financial and economic position, and declared that even now the position could be righted if the Government would admit that it was time to call a halt, that the country must live within its income, that persecution of capital must cease, and that development of primary industries must be the first consideration. From the subject of defence, when he emphasised the importance of a

Farm Workers Badly Housed. | Mr C. L. Carr (Government—i Timaru) in reply to Mr Roy, said t it was not the fault of the Govv ernment, but of the farmers thems. selves, if farm workers were not , efficient. The Leader of the OpposiV tion had said that no one was com-

pelled to work where he did not want to work, but, continued Mr Carr, when he saw the conditions under ! which some farm ers expected their employees to live he did not wonder at workers going on to Public Works. The Government today was subsidising the farmer

hd c’ould pay decent wages for I labour, and if that labour were not Keffleient, it was not the Government’s IPP; In reference to the wheat posibo»;mentioned by Mr Roy, he pointed [that there had been a big increase this year, the Industry was | rhatJced!y subject to weather fluctuaand during the two past sea- | had been abnormal so fef»r- a» th« whtefctgrower >vas concerned’.

thorough training, Mr. Doidge turned briefly to foreign affairs. He deplored the attitude taken at the League Council by Mr. Jordan on several occasions, when New Zealand opposed Britain’s policy, and declared that Mr. Jordan was untrained in diplomacy and should stay away from Geneva. Mr A. G. Osborne (Government— Onehunga) defending the Government’s policy, said the Opposition speakers claimed that there was no

evidence of pros-i perity in rural areas, but Government members had frequently given examples. He quoted figures to show that the profits of companies trading with farmers had increased greatly under Labour. Replying to a statement that the isinger, Richard Crooks, had been unable to take his

earnings out of New Zealand, Mr. Osborne said he had been authorised to make ,a statement on behalf of the Government. It had been ascertained that arrangements had been made with the Reserve Bank for the transfer of a substantial sum to Australia by Mr. Crooks and others, but Mr. Crooks had not applied for a permit to transfer his earnings. He had invested them all in New Zealand in Australian shares, and evidently made a joking comment to a pressman on his return to Australia. The facts of the case were a complete rebuttal of the charges made. Mr. A. S. Moncur (GovernmentRctorua) said the Opposition had failed to give one jot of evidence that the guaranteed price for dairy produce bpd been a failure. The real test was: Would any member of the Opposition today vote for its repeal? The dairying industry

was in better financial position today than it ever had been in its history. Land in the Waikato, one of the greatest dairying districts in the Dominion, was at a premium despite the guaranteed price, and what the opposition said about it, stated Mr Moncur. The

same thing could be said about North Taranaki. He advocated closer settlement of the Galatea Estate, and stressed the importance of a new State sawmill being put into operation in the State Forests near Rotorua. The House rose at 10.25 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. today.