The Waikato Times TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 1938 MINISTERIAL CANDOUR

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20466, 5 April 1938, Page 6

The Waikato Times TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 1938 MINISTERIAL CANDOUR

From time to time statements are made by public men that, unlike most of their utterances, are not quickly relegated to the limbo of forgotten things. They have a habit of turning up again and again and very often the speaker must wish that he had been a little more discreet in expressing his views or his feelings. Last week the Minister of Mines, the Hon. P. C. Webb, gave it as his opinion that the primary industries or those engaged in them were the backbone of the country was “all piffle.” It would not be surprising if this bald statement—and it does not appear to have been qualified in any way —should be recalled, to bother both the Minister and his supporters during the next few months. If Mr Webb had gone on to prove—• or attempt to prove—that the economic stability of the country did not depend almost entirely on the primary industries his contentions could have, and would have, been studied with interest, but apparently the Minister was content simply to express his own conclusion. He had thought it out and had reached the conclusion that it was nonsense to hold that the primary producer, because of his work, was the backbone of the country. A little reflection must have convinced the Minister that the claim made for the primary industries was correct. His colleague the Minister of Finance has asserted on many occasions that the financial policy of the Government is based on a series of trade agreements with the Mother Country, the other units of the Empire and with foreign countries, and in that order. If the policy were put into effect —and the inability of Mr Nash to conclude such agreements marks the chief failure of the Administration —then what could the Dominion offer in exchange but the foodstuffs and raw materials that come from the primary industries '? Mr Nash made an offer to the British authorities to utilise the credits established by the sale of Dominion exports for the purchase of British goods, after provision had been made for the debt services and other overseas commitments, such as freight. How could the credits be established were it not for the sale of primary products? The ability of the Dominion to meet its obligations overseas depends upon these very exports and not to any appreciable extent on the sale of any manufactured goods. It is also from the credits thus created that the import trade is financed. Now if Mr Webb will put any of the other occupations he mentioned to this test he must see that they are not of such vital importance as primary production. The loading of the produce creates nothing at all. It is a subsidiary service in the process of marketing the goods, and the same could be said of other occupations. Public works are not necessarily productive. In a well-known division made by Minister of Finance, in his first Budget, it was laid down that some of the works ■were economic, some would be of practical value as aids to production, and the return from others would be so remote and problematical that the cost should be met out of revenue and not out of loan. The justification given for many public works is that they will assist production, showing clearly that primary production is the vital matter. The works are means to that end. An increase in the value of the goods shipped overseas is at once reflected in improved conditions in the Dominion. That fact has been made very clear in the last year or two. No single factor-—; probably no combination of factors—has been of such importance. It has enabled imports to be increased, thus giving the Treasury a revenue in excess of £10,000,000 in the past year. That is the result of primary product exports. Could Mr Webb name any other branch of production that has such results from a national point of view ? Far from it being “all piffle,” the Dominion’s economic strength depends upon its primary industries. Mr Nash has said that the welfare of the Dominion necessitates steadily increasing production and it is unlikely that he would endorse the dictum of the Minister of Mines. Probably the Minister of Agriculture also would not be ready to support it; but there is a collective responsibility among Ministers and Mr Webb has added to it by his assertion that the claim of the primary industries to be regarded as the backbone of this country is “all piffle.”