ASSISTING THE PRODUCER

Taranaki Daily News, 17 June 1932, Page 12

ASSISTING THE PRODUCER

SPLENDID VOLUNTARY SERVICE. PRIME MINISTER APPRECIATIVE. “I should, like' to express, on behalf of my colleagues in the Government and myself, sincere appreciation of the services, most of them voluntary, which have been rendered to the farming community by the members of the Rural Intermediate Credit Board, district boards and directors and executive officers of associations,” stated the Prime Minister (Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes) in a .message forwarded, to conference of representatives of the Rural - Intermediate Credit Board and Co-operative .Rural, Intermediate Credit Associations, which opened at Palmerston North on Tuesday. “I feel sure that all present at this conference and those associated with you in the working of the system, have been actuated, by the desire to assist your fellow farmers without thought of benefit to yourself, and to these services so willingly rendered must be attributed to a large extent the success which thesystem has achieved.” added, the Prime Minister.

“The representative of a large dairy company in the' • Waikato district, which has assisted its suppliers, practically from the beginning of the board’s operations, to obtain the benefits of the system, and has also been closely connected with the association method of lending, recently expressed to me in conversation a very high opinion of the system and its advantages, and of the standard of work and organisation attained. I am informed that the associations have made very substantial progress which would, no doubt, have been considerably greater had financial and farming conditions been more settled, during the past two years. That the system has come though the present difficulties so well speaks volumes for the good work being carried out. I believe that‘those who have been brought into close contact with the system are favourably impressed with it and that the rural intermediate credit organisation and the associations are showing satisfactory results, taking all the circumstances into account. This result has been achieved only by the exercise of considerable care and watchfulness by those responsible for the administration of the associations’ business. It is gratifying to know that while this care and watchfulness has been exercised the borrowers have received every consideration consistent with the safeguarding of the moneys advanced.

“You will realise with me the difficulty of the conditions which New Zealand, in common 1 with the greater part of the -world, is experiencing today, and which have militated against a rapid expansion of the system, but the business already transacted is substantial and the work which has been done will prove of considerable value when conditions improve, as the efficient organisation which has been built up will be available to deal with the demand for credit facilities which will arise with a restoration of confidence in the farming industry. “It has taken time for the system, which was a novel one for New Zealand when it was introduced, to be fully understood, but now that satisfactory results can be claimed and the nature of the system and its benefits are being realised, I have every confidence that with a continuance of the present sound and prudent methods of management of. the affairs of the board and the associations, a successful future can confidently be anticipated. “I trust ■ that the conference will be . a successful one and that the discussions which take place will prove helpful to those present and will result in benefit to the system as a whole.”