BUTTER INCREASE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27211, 14 October 1949, Page 3

BUTTER INCREASE

DISAPPOINTMENT EXPRESSED INCOMPATIBLE WITH LOYALTY “ England is more than a home to the English people, it is part of us, and that is why I was disappointed to read that the Minister of Supply had increased the butter ration to eight ounces,” said Mr John K. Milner, general secretary of the Overseas League, in an address in St. Paul’s Hall on Tuesday night. “It is true that this is a land of plenty, but before the war England was also a land of plenty. We in New Zealand since the end of the war have been inclined to sit back, whereas in England the entire country had to be changed over from war-time to peacetime production.” ' It should be understood that England had been rationed for 10 years, and would continue to be rationed until 1953 or 1954, Mr Milner said. It was incompatible with New Zealand’s loyalty that at this stage it should seek to help itself by depriving others to whom it owed so much. New Zealand had been quoted as promising to incriiJiiSe agricultural production by 25 per cent, by 1955, but to attain this a more understanding support was required from the Government. The farmers were in a position to respond, and he believed they would always do so, provided the Government of the day would meet in conference with their representatives. i In the agricultural question there lay perhaps the most serious challenge to the Empire, Mr Milner added. In agriculture many felt that with scientific methods on farms much greater production could be obtained. The increased application of scientific methods was a difficult thing, but this had been done in England.