The Waikato Times THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1939 CHOICE OF TWO INDUSTRIES

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20951, 2 November 1939, Page 6

The Waikato Times THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1939 CHOICE OF TWO INDUSTRIES

New Zealand, in the opinion of many responsible people, is facing the necessity of making a choice between two industries—public works and primary production. While public works are undoubtedly “prospering,” farming is facing many difficulties which, in the case of dairying at least, have resulted in a steady decline in production over three years. Public works are definitely in competition with farming, and in view of the financial position of the country and the war emergency, there can be no question which industry should be preferred. If thousands of men can be found for public works, surely they can be found also for farming. It is perfectly clear where the national need lies. Seven hundred Taranaki farmers have called upon the Government to “make a national survey of public works with the object of immediately closing down all works of unproductive and nonessential character to ensure a maximum concentration of men and resources for production, to remove all hampering restrictions upon work, and in particular to suspend the 40-hour week for the period of the war and reduce drastically general public expenditure.” It is common knowledge that many public works have been undertaken to provide work for men and increase the “national purchasing power.” The point is whether all that effort and expenditure could not have been devoted to the producing industries with obvious advantage to the whole nation.

It is true that when the expanded public works policy was inaugurated, restrictive limits were being placed upon exports of primary produce from New Zealand, so that it is doubtful whether if an additional 20,000 or 30,000 workers had been injected into the primary industries markets could have been found for all the increased production. But the outbreak of war has altered all that. Not only are the markets at present practically unlimited, but the British Government itself is appealing for greater production as an important contribution towards the successful conduct of the war. A sustained attack upon the problem of production would have the twofold result of striking an effective blow at the enemy and of rescuing New Zealand from financial difficulties.

The complete survey suggested by the farmers is an urgent necessity. At present the public is not aware to what extent the transfer of energy is possible, or to what extent the Government’s effort to move men from public works to the farms has progressed. Mr Savage admitted in his Budget statement that the time had come to taper off public works, but since then the necessity has become doubly urgent. The survey asked for would disclose the position in black and white. A leading Waikato farming authority suggested the other day that £6,000,000 of the £23,000,000 allocated for public works should be used to assist the dairy industry. What New Zealand must consider urgently is whether that would not be a much better investment from the national point of view.