HIGH TRIBUTE

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVI, Issue 23030, 23 October 1944, Page 4

HIGH TRIBUTE

Work Of Production Councils Foodstuffs Essential For Victory High praise was accorded members of the Primary Production Councils and Committees throughout the Dominion by Mr VV. Huse, supervising organiser of the District Primary Production Councils of New Zealand, in an interview on Saturday. Mr Huse said that their greatly appreciated gratuitous service, involving a considerable sacrifice of their limited free time, bad resulted in the solving of many problems related to .increased production of primary products so vital to the war effort. He was confident that that service, so willingly and generously given, would continue, and that farmers generally would do their utmost to meet the urgent needs of Britain and her Allies. “In the rural life of New Zealand,” said Mr Huse, “one of the outstanding results of the war was the creation of Primary Production Councils and Committees. The war introduced new changes in demand to which primary production in peace time offered no parallel, and one the efforts to meet these changes took the form of an appeal to the farmer himself to lend a hand —through the Primary Production Councils—in organising war production on the farming front.” Mr Huse continued that examples of these unavoidable changes in demand were easy to find. For instance, the German occupation of Denmark caused an increased British demand for pig meats, and in 1940-41 New Zealand producers of pig meats increased their outputs to more than 1,000,000 carcases, compared with 870,000 carcases in the previous year. Then the I destruction of shipping by U-boats I temporarily cancelled the increased de- ' mand for New Zealand pig meats, but j the further developments of the war ■ in both the Atlantic and the Pacific i restored it. A similar fluctuation of I demand occurred as between butter i and cheese—from butter to cheese and i back again—and this had reflex effect jin the pig-raising industry, adding to I the uncertainties of producers. But I these several orders and countermands of orders simply complied with the I requests, and also the actual needs of : the British Government from time to time, and were part of the grim game of war and therefore unavoidable. Farmer Link Necessary “In order to convey to farmers the reasons justifying such apparent anomalies, and in order to help the farmers to make the necessary changes in their production plans it was necessary to have a farmer link between the government and the rural community.' IMr Huse explained. “Such a link was found in the Primary PrcducJrCouncil, with its subordinate Council composed of farmers who know howto explain to fellow farmers and how to appeal to the farmer mind," he salt: “Many little technical adjustments, hardly known to the town dweller, contribute towards increasing primary production, which is the main function of the Primary Production Councils. These little adjustments may be moral as well as technical. They may concern farmers as a body, or merely individual farmers. But they all need an understanding of the farmer mind and of the fanners' requirements. That is the invaluable need that is met by the farmers of the Primary Production Councils.” If a farming family, Mr Huse continued, wished to appeal against the drafting into the Army of one or more of its sons whom the family deemed indispensable in securing the adequate working of the farm, the Primary Production Council would advise concerning the appeal and would handle it if necessary. If a similar question arose concerning release from the Armed Forces of a man with farming experience, again the Primary Production Council could be appealed to. The Council acted as guide, philosopher and friend in a host of other matters, such as obtaining fertiliser or farm machines which were rationed. The number of things which the Primary production Council could do as liaison agent between the soil industries and the various authorities, the number of tangles it coul,d straighten out when the farmer became confused over changes in production demand, the I number of obstacles it could tactfullj i and expertly remove from the path ot I production could not be stated ip figures. The number was legion. Farmer Psychology “When a Primary Production Council gets behind a production drive the farmers know that the targets are not being set in any other than an expert manner,” said Mr Huse. “The farmers aim at targets which experienced farmers have set or approved, and the psychological value of the confidence of farmers in farmers is very great It is verv much needed in the changing course of the war and may be needed i after the war. Ordinarily, the allo 1 cation cf supplies like wire rope, piping, I fencing wire fertiliser, etc., is a prosaic , story but through the records of the 'primary Production Councils run threads of policy that may be of permanent value. The zeal with uhich manv highly capable farmers have thrown themselves into this work deserves success, and is already comIP ‘‘The number of District Councils of Primary Production in New Zealand, operating under the National Council of Primarv Production, is 36. and the membership of these comprises representatives from farmers organisations and also representatives of District Committees. In most of the District Council areas there are numbers of District Committees so placed that each member of a Committee covers 3 to 50 farmers. Thus, the organisation from farmer to the National Council of Primary Production is a complete OI Mr Huse recalled that at a meeting of the National Council of Primary Production a prominent farmer had that at one gathering of fanners he had heard the word “patriotic used, but he declared tot business of getting more food for Britain on a grimmer basis tnan sneaker had wondered whether me people of New Zealand were aware that farm production here had fallen serious? while the production of the British farmer had m become dl “nothing else than the saving of our kith and kin from something nearer starvation than they were at uresent Only one country- could give Zealand*” As that speaker had pointed ou £ meat position was bad, that of bu t. was worse." Way to Victory Thp butter which New Zealand nelce time could sell only to her British kith and kin—and the pnee of which was then part of the British of living, and not cavilled at-was now one of the goods standing between out British kith and kin and starvaton in this simple fact Of meaning, Mr Huse concluded. Th" Palmerston North speaker whom he had quoted had struck a not" v.hich must’ appeal to every consideration both of honour and of interest. It could be said confidently that not onh in the hundred and one technical farm matters but in appeals to the heart S wefl' as to th? head, the Primary Production Councils were pointing the wav to a victory none the less precious ?rom the fact that it was not being wo® directly under the guns of the Ziemv “Indirectly, if not directly Mr Huse concluded, “the farm front “ a part of the ‘total' front of modem war. and here the struggle against falling production contmues unabated and will continue. Is it too mucn to prophesy that the effort will be crowned with success?"