The Waikato Times. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1939 INCREASING PRODUCTION

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20917, 23 September 1939, Page 6

The Waikato Times. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1939 INCREASING PRODUCTION

Prompt action has been taken by the Minister of Agriculture, the Hon. AY. Lee Martin, to organise primary production to meet the urgent needs of the war. Recognition lias been given to the necessity of increasing, maintaining or restricting the production of any given class of produce according to the needs of the situation, and the Council of Primary Production is setting about its task in a businesslike manner. But it is when the organisation reaches the individual farmer that the real difficulties will arise. Greater production was quickly achieved in the last war, but on this occasion the circumstances are entirely different. * Between 1914 and 1918 production was stimulated by substantial increases in prices under the British Government's commandeer or by the general demand for all kinds of foodstuffs or other commodities that could be turned to account in the prosecution of the war. Today the Government has set itself to prevent increases in prices and all forms of “profiteering.” That stimulus having been removed, it will be necessary to devise other methods. That is the task facing the Council of Primary Production. Detailed methods have not yet been worked out by the council which, however, can rely upon the wholehearted co-operation of the community in one of the most important tasks facing the country when it is ready to indicate the practical application of means to attain the desired ends.

In the first place an appeal will be made to the patriotism of the producers to make their utmost contribution to the common cause by increasing their output to the limit of their resources. But when that appeal is answered to the full possible extent something more will be required, for the individual resources of the farming community were generally limited long before the emergency of war arose. If prices are to remain as they were at September 1, they alone will set a limit to what the farmers can produce and remain financially solvent. Therefore it is obvious that some practical assistance will have to be provided to make further production possible. That is the problem on which the council is engaged. The broad lines of approach were given by the Minister at the first meeting of the council. The first is the organisation and direction of labour for normal and special seasonal requirements. The second is the maintenance of farm production of both crops and livestock, and the third is the organisation of the supply of farm materials so that prices may be reasonably controlled and that, in the event of a shortage of some essential commodity, a system of rationing may be operated. Labour is one of the main essentials, together with the means of paying for it. That problem was not solved but rather aggravated in the years before the outbreak of war. But national efficiency demands a solution, and the methods to be adopted will be awaited with interest.