AN ASPECT OF RATIONING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25866, 9 June 1945, Page 3

AN ASPECT OF RATIONING

Sir,—We have had another cut in rations. This may be right enough as far as it goes, but it is just going to make tilings a bit more difficult to keep labour in the back country. Those men who are “ baching ” and live chiefly on bread, butter and meat are going to have a pretty lean time. It was difficult enough before, but with the further cut I am afraid a lot of these men will be looking for 'a job where they can buy a decent meal. One cannot help thinking that if • half the influence used to get this cut in rations had been expended in an endeavour to increase production more food could have been sent overseas for those who axe so . badly in heed of it. Everything our present Government has done seems to be detrimental to the export of our produce. To quote just a few items —we read that the people of Britain are reduced to ilb of frying fat a head per week; in this country there are thousands of tons of good fat being thrown away every day simply because the fixed price for it does not pay for railage and cartage to put it on the market, and the same applies to a number of other farm products Our Government was so determined that the farmers were not to make profits out of the war that it has killed a lot of the geese that laid the golden eggs. At the start of the war farmers were asked to increase pig meat and butter production. Numbers of back country settlers started' to breed pigs, and others who usually were in the habit of fattening and killing a dozen or so" a year made efforts'to increase their supply; but this was all stopped by a regulation that prevented pigs from being killed elsewhere than in a registered slaughterhouse. This effectively stopped ,pig production except on the routes where the bacon-curers could run trucks to pick' up the animals. We are being told that pig production has increased, but it would have increased two or three fold if the price had been increased a little and some of the stupid restrictions removed. The same applies to butterfat. The price was pegged and costs were •• raised till thousands of farms had to stop producing. There is no reason why the butter-fat in this country could not be increased two or three times. Most of our back country is good enough to run milking cows, but it just cannot be done quite so economically as on some of the better class land, and the trouble is that the further back the land is the greater the expenses are;- and so in the case of wheat- and other farm produce. I think the main thing required to assure increased production is to get the people who have the time and energy to agitate for equal returns for the work done in different p§rts ofctfie countryr.l.am sure this would ; pay .-.better than- making petty restrictions’-that ‘come hardest on that section -of the community which is already hardest hit.—l' am, etc., C. P. Harrex.