Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, JULY 6, 1918. THE IMPORTANCE OF PRODUCTION

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LII, Issue 162, 6 July 1918, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, JULY 6, 1918. THE IMPORTANCE OF PRODUCTION

IN view of Sir James Allen's statement | reported in these columns yesterday, j regarding th>. importance of keeping up production, a brief summary of portions of the remarks made by Mr J. Burbury, Agricultural Adviser to the ■Canterbury District Commissioner of the Efficiency Board, at the first annual meeting of the general committee will be of interest. As a preliminary to remarks on how io in.iki farm life attractive to work rs, 'Mr Burbury reminded his hearers of the fact that the primary producer —the agriculturalist, pastoraiist, and dairyfarmer and their assistants—is the most important person in the world today, after the sold»i r. During the year 1917. the world has produced 130,000,000 quarters less cereals than in "normal times as a result of the war. Forty millions of men have been or are b.aring amis; twenty millions of men and women are supplying them with war materials; therefore sixty millions of the world's best are nonprodu/'ers but yet have to be fed. Mr Lloyd O- orge in a very recent utterance, said that it is essential for the safety of the British Empire, to the maintenance oL the British Empire, and to the life of the British Empire, that we should put forth imni diateiy every effort to increase production. ! The speaker then went on to deal with the question, what is a farmer? The usual answer to such a qu ry, he i said, would have been given in half [ a dozen words a few years ago —"a ; tiller of the soil ; a raiser of liveI stock." A farmer is a man who knows j the composition of soil and its nianur- [ ial requirements ; a man who has a I knowledge of the different breeds- of stock, their outstanding characteristics, and who knows how to -breed and handle them ; one who understands th [management of men, and show them ! when and how to perform their duties; j one who has a knoweldge of growing cereals, root and fodd- r crops, and their manurial requirements etc., and above all a man who does his work in the proper seasons of the year." Mr Burbury said they had some farmers but th' y wanted more of them. Further, every acre brought under cultivation is an additional (bulwark against possible starvation. Therefore it behoved every man connected with primary products to do his b; st to produce as much as possible. If this.wefce not done the Empire would be in the most critical position. If hitherto unproductive paddocks could be made productive, so much the bett r, or in other words, we may apply the old adage and say that "the man who grows two 'blades of grass where one grew before" is a general benefactor to his country. Farmers,•'he went on to say often declared that prices would fall like lead when"*" th e war is over, •but this, in his opinion, r. sted on a false assumption. For the reason that no belligerent country would be able to put back its forces suddenly to n peace footing, and it would take many years to re-estaiblish an abundant food supply. On th- other hand, Mr Harold Beauchamp. Chairman of the Bank oi New Zealand, expressed the view ; that the public would not have the money with which to buy food other than the barest n- eds. But fortupnately for New Zealand, most of the food-stuffs produced would come under that category. Of course, prices will go down from what they are todny.

But if modern methods become general increased production will re-" suit, and -this is the only sure way to benefit producer and consumer alike. That there is ample scop? for improvement in this direction. Mr Burbury clearly proved, Prior to the war agriculture on the Continent of Europe made great strides, for foreign' rs made better use of'scientific, knowledge than the people of Great Britaian. They had more g; nerally adopted the nnal\ - sis of soils in conjunction with artificial manures, and" had used that knowledge to a very much 'greater extent than- the British had l . According to statistics the British farmer fe ds on 100 acres 45 to s\j persons, the foreign farmers 70 to 75 persons. Upon each 100 acres each year the British farmer grows 15 tons of corn to the foreigner's 33 tons; 11. tons, of potatoes to the foreign* r's 55 tons': 4 tons of meat to the foreigner's 4-£ tons ; 17-J, tons of milk to the foreigner's 28 tons. This, said Mr 'Burbury, was liot brought about because the land or climate is superior. New r L< aland has soil and climate that are much superior, and there are also many capable and ■up-to-date farmers, but a farmer can do litte without help, and unless ample labour can be secured there can be little hope of an increase in'our crops. Mr Burbury went on to deal with methods for .securing the labour by making country life .more attractive. This- we will leave for summary on a future occasion. Rt verting to the question of pi'oduction. the speaker pointed out that we have got to practically depend upon the production of the land to pay taxes which, of necessity, must arise when we come to foot the bill incurred owing to the war. The great iburden imposed by the war can only be lightened, by increasing the taxable wealth, or, in other words the products of the land. Comfort. and recreation •for the workers, more coi".»i deration for one another, co-operaltion, use of cultural implements, milking machines, shearing machines, etc.. will assist in n.ttakiing the object. It may be added that small holdings andi intensive cultn--vation wijl do much for New Zealand. So far agriculture hardly counts beyond supplying local needs. It is the pastoral industries that have made New Zealand