COMMON INTERESTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23208, 30 November 1938, Page 15

COMMON INTERESTS

FARMS AND FACTORIES SAME PROBLEMS FACED HIGH PRODUCTION COSTS [SX TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION'] WELLINGTON. Tuesday " It is a unique occasion," said the Dominion president of the New Zealand Farmers' Union, Mr. W. W. Mulholland, when speaking at tho opening of the annual conference of the New Zealand Manufacturers' Federation at Wellington to-day. He said the attendance of the president of the Farmers' Union at a meeting of the Manufacturers' Federation did not represent a change of policy, but it did represent a change of emphasis. "Wo have looked at the position together," Mr. Mulholland added, "and found that the matters in which our interests were common greatly overweighted the matters in which our interests were divergent." He quoted an American writing on the relationship of the primary and secondary industries, and emphasised the necessity to agriculture of a sufficient production in other industries.

" We talk about primary and secondary industries," he said, "but when you try to figure it out you find that about half of what we call secondary industries are primary, and that not a few called primary are secondary. Let us think about industry in this country as a whole, for the material welfare of New Zealand as a whole depends on its industry." A great many problems were identical throughout industry. One problem today was the relationship between costs of production and returns. It was important for farmers producing most of the export wealth of tho country to have a healthy secondary industry. If they did anything that was going to injure secondary industry they would injure themselves. The same could be said of secondary industry in its relationship to industries producing for export. New Zealand faced the problem of keeping production at a high level. There were lands going out of production because of high costs, and machines in factories standing idle because of high costs. It was the same problem and they should get together and deal with it.