STATE INFLUENCE

Waikato Times, Volume 130, Issue 21737, 25 May 1942, Page 2

STATE INFLUENCE

PRIMARY INDUSTRIES QUESTION OF LEADERSHIP Quoting a recent statement by its president. Mr L. J. Wild, that leadership of the agricultural and pastoral industries of the Dominion had been passing into the hands of Government departments during the last 25 years, the Royal Agricultural Society of New Zealand, in its annual report, urges the need for the society to take that leadership to itself. “As part of the ever-increasing penetration of State influence in industries and activities in New Zealand, departmental domination in the agricultural and pastoral industries

I was naturally to be expected if those | upon whom leadership responsibility i rested allowed the reins to slip from their hands,” says the society. “Mr Wild has pointed out a danger that has to be met and overcome, but it is not going to be overcome by the passing of pious resolutions. Farmers pride themselves that by nature and tradition they are individualists; they must awaken to the fact that bureaucratic control, so evident of recent years, is the enemy of true individualism.

“Well organised as the Department of Agriculture may be, and staffed as it is by keen and able men—including some of outstanding ability—it is not entitled to assume, nor is it capable of the leadership Mr Wild refers to. It may have little desire to possess or retain leadership. Is the Royal Society able to shoulder the responsibility itself? To claim the right is not sufficient; power and ability must be demonstrated. Broad View of Responsibilities “To some extent the original concept has been obscured by the other activities of the Royal Society. The society has been drifting into a position in which its chief function seemed to be the running of the Royal Show. In many quarters that is regarded as its only purpose for existing.

“The society has taken the right preliminary step in insisting upon proper financial provision and it must now follow on and organise opinion. Agricultural and pastoral associations should be guided toward taking, in Mr Wild’s own words, a broad view of the agricultural industry and of their responsibility for the betterment of country life that far transcends in .importance the mere running of a stock show. It is for the society to educate them to that broad view, to organise them under its banner, and to provide them with an inspiration that will be reflected throughout the country life of New Zealand.”