Waihi Telegraph WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WAIHI MINER THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1929. PRIMARY PRODUCTION

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XXVI, Issue 7910, 3 October 1929, Page 2

Waihi Telegraph WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WAIHI MINER

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1929. PRIMARY PRODUCTION

Hore ahall en« Prana ite reopje a liiijhl maintA.u UnAwed by influence and unhribrd by orvn Ewe Pctriot Truth nar ftlormua prac“ci-' draw. Plfidflad to ftoliinmi i.ihartv uud Law

Emphasis is laid in the annual report of the Labour Department on the importance of increasing on a large scale the numbers engaged as producers, especially in the primary industries. Public opinion is entirely in accord with this idea. At the same time, care must bo exercised in the use of figures which show the change in numbers of those in rural and urban occupations. Residence is not an exact guide, as during intercensal periods there are always alterations in boundaries which make exceedingly difficult an exact comparison of the numbers actually living and working in country and town. With occupations also there must be an allowance made for the fact that as population grows New Zealand is able to supply an increasing proportion of her own requirements—the local market is extended, and services for which we formerly relied upon the overseas manufacturer can be supplied by local industry. Having regard to this fact, the increase in numbers engaged in secondary industries need not be viewed with alarm. It is rather an encouraging proof of enterprise if it is not induced by too expensive a tariff protection. But the duplication in twenty years of numbers engaged in professional and commercial occupations,* and in transport and communication, is more disturbing. It shows that these occupations are overcrowded —that too high a. proportion of our population is engaged in distribution and transportation. In part this is due to the duplication of transport facilities, and it proves the need for some corrective measure which will lessen the cost of this service to the community. Another aspect of the “hack to the land’’ movement is that involved in making the career attractive to the boys. The Labour Department lias been giving attention (as the report shows) to the business of bringing farmers and parents in touch with each other. Further help in this direction will be afforded by the operation of the training scheme recently outlined by the Prime Minister. But when this is done it will still be necessary to as--1 sure parents that their boys will have reasonable prospects of success. In brief, the measure of success depends upon the provision of land for settlement by the young farmers when they are trained. The training cannot be viewed as a separate and distinct branch of land settle-

2HOIII. enterprise. At present the country is experiencing tlio aftereffects of the boom period when many men were placed on high-pric-ed land, some of them having neither the temperament nor the experience essential for success. If we give a rural bias to education and offer facilities for practical farm training the prejudice against a rural career will quickly be overcome. But unless this activity is accompanied by energetic action in the provision of land the rural bias may be overdone and lead to a new and pronounced bias against agriculture.