The Daily News FRIDAY, JULY 14, 1933. CONTROLLED PRODUCTION.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 July 1933, Page 6

The Daily News

FRIDAY, JULY 14, 1933. CONTROLLED PRODUCTION.

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In London and at Wellington the future of the farming industry has been under discussion during the past few days by those most qualified to judge. In New Zealand the acting-Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, maintained the optimistic view of the future which he placed before Taranaki farmers recently. Costs of production, he told the Farmers’ Union Conference, were slightly lower and prices a little higher, with the probability of less instability ahead. In Great Britain the claim was made that some assistance had been given to wheatgrowers, but that progress in rural settlement was held back by the swamping of the Home markets by Dominion and foreign produce. Particular reference was made by the Minister of Agriculture, Mr. W. E. Elliot, to the huge increase in supplies of butter from New Zealand and Australia, and the fact that a drop in wholesale price from 105 s to 75s had not enabled demand to overtake supply. Mr; Elliot emphasised the necessity for regulation of supplies for the sake alike of the farmers in Great Britain and in the Dominions. He claimed that the wheat quota had worked smoothly and to the advantage of the home grower, and that the. meat quota had improved matters, but would have to go further if the stockowners of Great Britain were to be given a chance of prosperity, and he urged that regulation of supplies of dairy produce should be brought into operation as soon as possible. It is at this point that New Zealand becomes vitally .interested in the House of Commons’ discussion. Fortunately the Prime Minister and the , Minister of Industry and Commerce are in London, . and are well aware of the seriousness to New Zealand of any arbitrary limitation of her exports. They may be relied upon to state the Dominion’s case with persistency, particularly in regard to the necessity for more production if New Zealand is to be in a position to fulfil her financial obligations in Great Britain. Mr. Elliot drew attention to the action taken by the United States. There the whole movement for economic rehabilitation depends upon regulation, and in many cases limitation, of production. Mr. Elliot quoted the charges placed upon wheat for local consumption, out of which supplies for export receive bounties, as an instance of the “ruthless” methods being adopted in America. They had resulted, said the Minister, in raising the price of bread in New York by 20 per cent., but they also allow the exporter; to “dump” their supplies oversea at a price which can only be acceptable by the addition of the bounty paid for by the American consumer. The domestic side of the matter was no concern of other nations, but the absorption of the wheat surplus was a matter in which the wheatgrowers of Britain were vitally interested, and was one held in control only by the quota system which regulates imports of wheat. There is a warning in this statement for New Zealand producers also. There are plans now under consideration by the dairy industry for stabilising prices in the domestic market slightly above London parity. Care must be taken to see that these do not incur a charge of “dumping” imports into Great Britain, and thus strengthen the hands of those who are demanding restriction of imports of dairy produce from the Dominion. With monetary and tariff questions excluded from its scope the World Economic Conference is discussing restricted production as a means of increasing prices, and the latest proposal, made by Poland, is in regard to dairy produce. The wheat producing countries have already reached a provisional limitation agreement, and there is hope of similar arrangements being made to cover coal, timber and cotton. It is evident that one statement in the much discussed memorandum upon production issued a month or two ago by Mr. Coates is proving correct. The movement for restriction and regulation of production, both primary and secondary, was, he said, bound to expand. The events of the past few weeks have borne out the truth of that prophecy.