REPLY TO PESSIMISTS

Otago Witness, Issue 3829, 2 August 1927, Page 36

REPLY TO PESSIMISTS

STABILITY OF DOMINION, i PRIME MINISTER’S REVIEW. ’ WELLINGTON, July 26. ' The Prime Minister (Mr J. G. Coates), in an address at the conference of the ■ New Zealand Farmers’ Union to-day, dwelt upon the improved outlook so far as the general economic position is concerned, and especially, he said, was the future brighter as regards our primary products. The Prime Minister said that some of the remarks made by the president (Mr W, J. Polson) in the course of his opening address required some qualification. One was the statement that Mr Coates was “the man who gets things done.’’ “Now, I want to tell you clearly,” he said, "that I never said such a thing at all. Others have said it; but I have not. I am there in my position to do my duty, and to initiate and complete a policy that was initiated at the last election, and one which I hope to be able to put into complete operation.” Mr Coates said that in the whole of the British Empire there was not a Government that had the representation from the farming community that the present Government of New Zealand had, and he asked the conference to consider that. He himself was a farmer. He thought in the terms of a farmer, and the difficulties of the primary producer. No one was more anxious than he to arrive at a solution of the problems that faced the primary producers to-day, not only in New Zealand, but all over the world. It was true that in New Zealand the position was probably unique in the respect that by far the greatest portion of our produce came from the primary producer. It was a world-wide depression or disturbance that affected the primary producers. Mr Coates said he was pleased to be able to say that for the five months ended on May 31 of this year our exports amounted, roughly, to £27,000,000, and for last year our exports for the same period amounted to £25,500,000, an increase of £1,488,982. The imports for the five months ended on May 31 amounted to £18,562,171, as compared with £20,999,905 for the same period of 1926, a decrease of £2,437,734 ; so that in regard to the trade balance we were better off by £3,926,716 for the first five months of this year. He thought that showed the effect of economy, and also the tightening up of imports and the increase in production, the latter largely as a result of the efforts of the primary producer. “In my opinion,” declared the Prime Minister, “we have turned the corner, and we are improving our position every day, and the outlook for the future is infinitely better than it has been for the last two years.” There was, of course, the question of our markets to consider. He doubted whether anybody could follow a policy of Freetrade and substantiate it; aud neither could they follow a policy of Protection and substantiate it. Each item had to be considered on its merits. It seemed to him that it was a scientific tariff w’hich they must consider. Referring to primary products in a general way he said that the past year had been most satisfactory from the point of view of output. “Our job is to see, - said Mr Coates, “how we can improve the farmers’ capacity to increase production still further. If the primary producers of this country arc able to make both ends meet reasonably the rest of the community will share in the prosperity.” There had been satisfactory increases in the number of sheep. We were really ' about 500,000 short of the peak year. There had been a record crop of wheat. ’ The figures aud facts he had given showed , that the farmers had been increasing their ’ products, and the sales showed a satisfactory increase in quantities. ) A matter which had recently been dis-

cussed was the borrowing of tire country. It was true that something over £7,000,000 was due each year for the public debt, and of that over £5,600,000 was earned by the money we had borrowed. That was to say the users paid for it. Some people might speak of the public debt and say that we had borrowed £5,000,000 or £6,000,000, and had to pay interest on it, whereas as a matter of fact perhaps £1,400,000 was expended on railways, electric power supply, and other public services, in addition to the advances to settlers' liability. In reality this was no debt at all, because it paid its own way. There had been some comment in connec-

tion with the development of the country and the borrow'ing of money. The policy of endeavouring to give the backblocks settler access to markets had been clearly laid down. There was also the development side of the question to consider. In this respect he mentioned as an example the East Ccfast railway and the North of Auckland railway. He also alluded to the expenditure on telephone communications, the cost of which was not borne by the general taxpayer. He dealt with the question of roads for opening up the country. In conclusion, the Prime Minister said we wanted to look to the future with confidence, and he thought we could look for much better prices, find must do all that was possible to place ourselves in the position of being able to compete successfully with all the countries with which we W’ere in competition.