THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1929. "BETTER TIMES."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20174, 7 February 1929, Page 8

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1929. "BETTER TIMES."

A veby little time ago anybody who suggested that the cloud of depression which had briefly hovered over this Dominion was passing away appeared as one whose voice was crying in the wilderness. There was little active support to be had, there were plenty of people ready and wilj ling to demonstrate that the idea ! must be absurd because there was so much positive evidence to hand proving that the corner had not been turned. The citation of export and import figures, of banking returns, of record output was brushed aside. Sometimes it almost appeared as if there were people who did not want to be convinced that the depression of the immediate past was coming to an end. Fortunately there has been a decided change of tone very recently. . It is so necessary and desirable to have the essential soundness and powers of recovery this fortunate country possesses adequately recognised, that the recantation can be accepted thankfully without too exact an inquiry into motives. It is true the actual daily conditions have not altered very materially while pessimism and optimism have been changing places. The evidence on which estimates and forecasts are based was the same in kind, if not altogether equal in quantity, say, four months ago. as it is now. There is no good reason why, on the facts, the cheerfulness of to-day should not have been manifested then. It *s not necessary at the moment to go into the causes underlying this change of tone. Most people who follow the course of public affairs will not need to be told. The fact of the change should be accepted gladly.

The latest recruit to the band of those who see the future in brighter lines is Mr. W.' J. Poison, M.P. His statement on the subject is important, because he was speaking officially in his capacity as president of the New Zealand Farmers' -Union. As some organisations representing farming opinion have been prominent in declaring the promise of beiter times illusory, and the outlook for the man on the land worse than-ever, to find Mr. Poison speaking in this vein is a portent not to jbe missed. He has duly emphasised every factor in the situation. A bountiful season, good prices for products in ail the important | branches of farming, an excellent trade balance for the year, and a satisfactory banking position assure, according to his view, benefits to the man on the land which will ultimately be shared by every section of the community. It is an eminently sound and justifiable summing up of a situation which has not developed in the past few weeks, but has been gradually coming to pass during a considerable period of time. The primary industries of New Zealand have been gathering strength in a manner making for permanence and stability. Flocks and herds have been increased in sizo and quality in a very striking fashion during the past few years. The grass lands of the country, the main scene of its primary production, have been given more intensive and more scientific treatment. Though the acreage worked has not increased to any great extent, its productive power has been raised to heights not known before. Consequently, even in the times stigmatised as bad, the volume of output ha 3 been steadily increased. The dry summer last year checked the but even its rigours caused nothing worse than a check, without any significant retrograde movement. Now that nature has been kind, and granted what Mr. Poison rightly describes as a bountiful season, the full results of the work the farmer has been doing promise to accrue, and prices for all staple products are at a very satisfactory level. It is little wonder that the country is being told good times are in store for it. The lessons to be drawn from the period of reduced prosperity, with its consequent process of recovery, should not be forgotten in the satisfaction with which both the facts of the change and the acknowledgments of it are received. First and outstanding is undoubtedly the central truth that the depression and the return of prosperity are based on causes which do not operate in this country and are not curable here. It was not sufficiently recog- ! nised in times of difficulty, which was a bad thing; if it is not adequately grasped now, in brighter days, it may be a worse thing. For it is only elementary common sense, the industry being so dependent on outside markets, affected by conditions that can be neither manipulated from, nor always foreseen in this country, that the farmer should, so far as his circumstances permit, make provision during prosperity against possible adversity. It is no use realising this necessity after prices have fallen ; while they are high is the time to recognise it and act accordingly. Another lesson is that primary industry in New land is favoured with such advantageous natural conditions that its powers of endurance and recuperation arc surely without parallel it' the world. Sound at core, the great primary industries can weather any ordinary storm. Yet they are liable to suffer shocks and storms, ; and that liability should not be for- | gotten when skies are fair. These arc the chief lessons of the past and the present, worthy of remembrance now there iB cheerful acknowledgment that better times can be expected with confidence.