THE TURNING POINT
NEW ZEALAND INDUSTRIES PRIMARY OR SECONDARY? THE COUNTRY MUST DECIDE (Per United Press Association) NEW PLYMOUTH, June 3. New Zealand was at the turning point of its career and the country had to decide whether it was going to encourage primary production or secondary industry, said Mr H E. Zlyde, president, at a conference of the North Taranaki branches of the Farmers’ Union. He said that at present the trend was to discourage farming interests. Looking backward over the past 20 to 30 years, it was found that the rural population had steadily diminished in its ratio to the total population, and only the advent of machinery and science had enabled production to increase and to be maintained. Literally millions of acres had gone out of production, and if the present trend of affairs continued many more acres, of second class land at any rate, would become unproductive.
Although farmers were in general becoming more efficient every year, he was afraid that in spite of this the production of primary products, if handicapped or discouraged any more, would begin to decline. New Zealand must decide whether it was in her interests to encourage primary or other production. It was not a question of merely helping the farmers or any other section, it was a question of vital importance to everyone in New Zealand, and upon the answer depended the future prosperity of the country.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19380604.2.133
Bibliographic details
Otago Daily Times, Issue 23517, 4 June 1938, Page 16
Word Count
237THE TURNING POINT Otago Daily Times, Issue 23517, 4 June 1938, Page 16
Using This Item
Allied Press Ltd is the copyright owner for the Otago Daily Times. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons New Zealand BY-NC-SA licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Allied Press Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.