SLUMP COMPLEX

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23060, 10 June 1938, Page 4

SLUMP COMPLEX

FEELING IN COUNTRY REDUCED PRODUCE VALUES ADDRESS TO WOMEN'S DIVISION [BY TELEGRAPH —OWN CORRESPONDENT] DUNEDIN, Thursday The feeling of insecurity and the slump complex produced by rising costs and the failing values of produce, was referred to by Mrs. W. Elliott in her presidential address at the annual conference of the Otago provincial executive of tho Women's Division of the New Zealand Farmers' Union. She expressed apprehension for the future and said the Women's Division must strive for peace and progress. "There is an uneasy feeling among the thinking people of our country that our moral standard is slipping," said Mrs. Elliott. "We must use our power as an organisation to prevent this. We have been perturbed and appalled at questions mainly pertaining to the national health of our people, lime was when such questions were considered too indelicate for women to discuss, but now we must face and discuss them if, as women, our organisations mean anything to us, and if, because of our organisations, we are to hold our rightful place in the community." Rising Costs "We must take an intelligent, interest in everything pertaining to the moral and educational life of the community and act accordingly," added Mrs. Elliott. "Tlie return for our work for the year just ended has not been so prosperous as last year," she continued, referring to farming questions. "Most of our produce has shown a drop in values, and added to this there are rising costs and a feeling of insecurity and that our standing is precarious. Perhaps we have developed a 'slump complex,' but all through the country people on the land are talking of another slump. We have obviously no faith in our prospects. More Production "Tlio cry is for more production," continued Mrs. Elliott. "If we are to expand, we must breed and improve our stock and our carrying capacity, and keep our fences and pastures in good order even if the cost of production rises so as to eclipse all profit. The present upward trend of costs and the low profits, combined with apprehension abroad to-day, is anything but encouraging. It is blurring our vision and destroying the q'uiet of mind of the man on the land, and wo wondei. what lies ahead for lis. "It is our duty to encourage every woman and every woman's organisation to combine to further d. cause which aims at making perfect a machine in which the ideal is that wise counsel sliall prevail over might. A woman's heart dictates t«> her the necessity for striving for these bulwarks of our civilisation, peace, progress and freedom, and the greatest of these is peace."