PRIMARY INDUSTRIES

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 78, Issue 7016, 7 February 1949, Page 5

PRIMARY INDUSTRIES

PEAK OF EFFICIENCY REACHED CLAIM MADE IN LABOUR PARTY DAILY “We want to find out why your country has such a large production cf butter and cream. We’re amazed and we’ll keep on being puzzled till we know the score.” This was said by one of a party of 60 Australian farmers who had come recently to this country in order to study New Zealand farming, writes F. Schafer in the “Southern Cross.” Indeed, amid a world of destruction and shortages, New Zealand primary industry has performed a miracle of efficiency. Figures of the 1945 census, compared with the figures of the previous census years 1926 and 1936, confirm this.

This comparison is the more significant, as the years between 1926 and 1936 virtually cover a period under the previpus Government, while during the following period, 1936-1945, the policy of the present Ministry was being put into practice. Urban Drift

The period under Labour indicates, above all, a great urban drift coupled with farm mechanisation. Between 1926 and 1936 the number 6f persons engaged in primary industry rose from 142,076 to 175,113, an increase of 23 per cent. But during the following period, 1936-1945, this figure declined to 135,107, a drop of 29 per cent. This extraordinary feature in the economic history of New Zealand indicates how this country, under the planned industrialisation policy of the Labour Government, has progressed in building up industries. Every country has to undergo this trend, unless it wants to rank among the backward countries of the globe, such as China or India. As this process was controlled in New Zealand by Government planning, agriculture was not neglected. Import selection left ample scope for the purchase of farm machinery abroad. Between 1936 and 1945 the electrical tractor came into its own as an aid in increasing agricultural production. There were 5710 farm tractors in 1936, compared with 18,940 in 1945. This trebling indicates the large increase in agricultural productivity. More Output Per Head

Dairy products rank high in New Zealand farming output. Unfortunately no comparable figures for 1926 and 1936 regarding output of butterfat, and other dairy products, are available. The earliest figure comparable with 1945 is for the year 1937. However, if the 1937 output for butterfat is used for calculating the output per head in 1936—there will not be much difference between 1936 and 1937—-it is clear that the output qf butterfat per head of persons engaged in dairying was 53191 b in 1936 and 65441 b in 1945, an increase of 23 per cent.

This trend is still more obvious if the wool output per head of persons engaged in primary industries is calculated. It was 15751 b in 1926, 17381 b in 1936, and 27531 b in 1945. This means an increase of 10 per cent, between 1926 and 1936, and 58 per cent, between 1936 and 1945. Similarly, the number of sheep and lamb carcases per head of persons engaged in primary industries rose from 65 in 1926 to 68 in 1936 and to 135 in 1945. This increase shows a growth of almost 100 per cent, during 1936 and 1945, while during the years under the previous Government virtu* ally no increase occurred. Important grains grown in New Zealand are wheat, oats and barley. Their joint yield was 68 bushels in 1926, 74 bushels in 1936 and 93 bushels in 1945 per head of persons engaged in primary industries. This amounts to an increase of nine per cent, between 1926 and 1936, and of 26 per cent, under the present Government. World Interest Thus New Zealand agriculture has vastly increased its productivity during the term of the present Government. This puts New Zealand once more into the limelight in this age of world-wide food shortage. Her butter deliveries to the United Kingdom are now one of the pillars of Britain’s economy. Out of Britain’s pre-war butter supp?iers New Zealand is the only country which has succeeded in maintaining her butter deliveries to Britain virtually at the 1938 level. This alone is an outstanding feature of efficiency which, by itself, could explain the great interest experts from abroad take in the primary industries of this country.