For the Man on the Land

Waikato Independent, Volume XXXVII, Issue 3268, 18 February 1937, Page 3

For the Man on the Land

BASIS OF PROSPERITY

DEPENDS ON THE FARMER “All sections of the community in the Dominion depend on the farmer for the basis of their prosperity, and any rise or fall in export prices is soon reflected in the purchasing power of the whole Community,” said Mr H. E. Worsy, chairman of directors of the Auckland Farmers’ Freezing Company, limited, at the company’s annual meeting. To illustrate how New Zealand almost entirely depends for its livelihood on primary production, and to point out the impossibility of the primary producers passing on their costs to the consumers, a huge percentage of whom reside overseas, Mr Worsp quoted the following figures showing that there were used in New Zealand: 2 per cent of our wool; 4 per cent of our cheese; 10.8 per cent of our lamb; 18.5 per cent of our butter; 24.6 per cent of our pork; 51.5 per cent of our mutton; 73.2 per cent of our beef. “Beef production in New Zealand is only a minor industry,” he said. “The. balance Pf pur primary products, which comprise 94.8 per cent of our exports, has to find a market overseas in competition with the primary producers of the world. “These figures emphasise the importance of the primary producer to the rest of the people of the Dominion. Conditions in New Zealand are such that if the’ grass is not kept growing in the country, it will soon grow in the streets of the cities. “There is a feeling among many of the community. Statelnents made by irresponsible people show a complete misunderstanding of the true position-and tend to endanger harmonious relations between town and country.”