TE AWAMUTU COURIER Printed on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays MONDAY, 4th OCTOBER, 1948 PRIMARY PRODUCTION

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 77, Issue 6974, 4 October 1948, Page 4

TE AWAMUTU COURIER Printed on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays MONDAY, 4th OCTOBER, 1948 PRIMARY PRODUCTION

SOON after the war the British Government set about a programme for the definite encouragement of farm production, and reports issued from time to time bear testimony to the effective results which follow such sponsored assistance and encouragement. In New Zealand on many occasions similar approaches have been made, but the sponsorship of direct or manifest Government assistance has been lacking. Nevertheless,, the farmers have, generally, to the limits of their capacity, held production figures at a high level over a succession of favourable seasons. Speaking at Auckland recently, Mr Wi E. Hale, chairman of the Dairy Board, touched on the general situation, and expressed concern at “the vague and indefinite promise that seems to have been made in respect to large increases in the production of meat and dairy produce by 1955.” He added that “there is no undertaking; and no Government statement setting out proposals to encourage an increase in our primary produce exports has been issued.” There may be nothing in the nature of a contract—there could hardly be one when so much depends upon conditions beyond control—and the nearest to a definite undertaking seems to have been that mentioned by Mr G. H. Grigg, chairman of the Meat Producers’ Board. In a statement made last July he said that “ the Government, together with the meat _ industry and its representatives, has • undertaken to increase meat production by 50,000 tons by 1955.” With respect to dairy produce it will be remembered that the chairman of the Dairy Products Marketing Commission, Mr W. Marshall, on his return from London, said that the delegation had been questioned as to what possibility there was of increased supples becoming available from this Dominion. Britain had asked for larger quantities of both butter and cheese. The reply made by the delegation was governed by the proviso “given reasonably good seasonal conditions.” In those circumstances the opinion was expressed that a gradual increase in quantity, which would reach 20 per cent before the expiry of the contract in 1955, was a possibility. There was no definite commitment, but the decisions reached at a conference, summoned by the Government in August of last year to consider the provision of further aid to Britain in the form of foodstuffs, constituted a self-imposed pledge. In the background of all these forecasts and promises can be sensed the natural reliance on seasonal conditions, but there is also the difference revealed in what could be regarded as a production target and a production policy. It can be very desirable to define and state a target, but sheer necessity demands that there should also be a policy to encourage and stimulate performance—'Whether, for instance, there should be an endeavour to gain greater production from existing farm land, or what possibilities offer from greater development of partially productive areas and idle lands. The questions of title and availability in some areas, access and communications, fertiliser and other supply all link the definition of a policy. The labour position in agriculture was recently disclosed as showing nearly 37,000 male workers diverted from primary to secondary industries between the years 1936 and 1945. A higher standard of productive efficiency might do something to off-set that adverse development, but probably Mr Hale was nearer the mark when he said that “the Govern-

ment would have to secure the goodwill of the present farmers and attract additional workers to the land.” The fixing of minimum targets may have some good psychological effect. It gives a branch of primary produc-

.tion a goal to aim at, but something more than that is required. It was stated very plainly by Mr Hale when he said: “The Minister of M-arketing, Mr Cullen, should be definite on what the Government desired and what it was prepared to do to bring about the desired result.’ Wlhat it desired will constitute the targets, but what it is proposed to do to encourage and assist reaching them calls for a definite policy.