PRIMARY PRODUCERS

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXX, Issue 188, 17 August 1935, Page 5

PRIMARY PRODUCERS

Helped by Government VIGOROUS POLITICAL SPEECH BY AGRICULTURE MINISTER (Per Press Association). HAWERA, This Day. In the course of a vigorous political speech last night the Minister of Agriculture, Hon. C. E. MacMillan, referred particularly to the difficulties of the ■ primary producers throughout I New Zealand during the worst period of the slump. Had things run their course through the ordinary processes, said Air. AlacAlillan, more than half the farms would have gone through the bankruptcy court and the losses on a forced realisation would have j caused an economic landslide. The j Government ,of course, had no means I of controlling selling prices overseas, I but by special legislation it brought production costs down in a series of steps, thus averting a sudden ruinous collapse. It raised the exchange rate, granted a moratorium for mortgage debts; enacted legislation for the reduction of interest rates, and the establishment of adjustment commissions, also subsidies to cheapen fer- ' tilisers, etc., and all this combined to hold the farmer on the land till the prospects improved. Now with better- prices overseas and more business in the Dominion, als'o with cheaper money available through the Mortgage Corporation, most farmers would stand firmly on their own feet. Others not so well circumstanced, might if they wished, accept the guidance of the Courts of Review. AU this emergency legislation had been created with the definite object of helping back on his feet the man who had been knocked down by the economic blizzard. Without a precedent to guide the Government had to meet the circumstances as they arose. In the light of experience some amendment to the various Acts of Parliament was found necessary and time was required to get the machinery working smoothly, but the Government now had to face the electors with the consciousness [than the man on the land had been given something more than a fighting chance to hold his ground. To show the financial improvement tliat had taken place, and it was claimed to be largely as a result of these measures, the Alinister submitted a statement of the Post Office Savings Bank withdrawals and deposits in which was shown a recovery of nearly £5,000,000. It might be said by some that people were not spending as much as they did in other years, hut this was very definitely refuted by the fact that the sales tax charged at varying rates increased by £23,294. The tax collection at the end of April last was £1 91,607 compared with £168,313 for the corresponding period in 1934. Another indication was the increase in imports by £6,245,000, the figures for the year ended March 31 last being £32,992,000 compared with £26,747,000 for the previous year.