BRIGHT FUTURE.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19148, 3 November 1927, Page 9

BRIGHT FUTURE.

THE MAN ON THE LAND PRIME MINISTER OPTIMISTIC. (PRESS ASSOCIATION TELIGBAIf.) PALMERSTON N., November 2.

The Prime Minister,' in officially opening the Manawatu JShow to-day, spoke in an optimistic tone of the' prospects of the producers of the Dominion. They had passed through a very difficult period, and naturally when returns wero not sufficient to meet expenses they endeavoured to place on the shoulders of someone the cause of their troubles and complaints. "I must humbly suggest that you have not spared yourselves in your complaints," he added, "and that your humble servant has not missed them all (Laughter.) Again I would suggest thaj the cause of your difficulty has not been of a local character, but world-wide and economic. Just as your prosperity depends on how your produce fares on the world's markets, so do we depend on your prosperity. We have city workers and. country dwellers, but I wonder,how many realise that their prosperity depends on the price that the primary producer obtains for his products. We have passed through a period which might have been very much worse, but I can say that the future looks brighter than for some time past. For instance, unemployment gradually is falling off; already factories are recording a greater output with a result that the purchasing power of the community dependent on those industries was greater, there was an improvement in trade, our balance having improved by over three million pounds, importations had fallen and our exports had risen. I think I may say that provided we pull together and do. our ,best there is no reason to be depressed; on the other hand I think we look forward with every confidence to better times ahead."

Aiding the Producer. > He added that the new tariff, he was confident, would be of great benefit to the primary producers, while another thing that would assist them was the Government's policy that users of the roads would have to contribute more to their construction and maintenance. Of the total increase in the cost of road maintenance this year it had been shown that the users had contributed only 36 per cent., the balance being borne by taxpayers. Local taxation already was very high, so that more of the cost would have to be shouldered by the users of the roads. That legislation would prove of assistance to the ratepayers, in other words to the primary producers who were the men we were dependent on in New Zealand for our prosperity. Anything affecting the welfare of the producer would affect the welfare of the whole country.

In the Eural Credits Bill passed last night there was something that was necessary for the farmer, a system that would provide for a man who was a worker and who wanted to take up land. Interest and costs to the farmer had been too high, and the Government wanted to pnt cheaper money at his disposal. He expressed his belief that this legislation would be of great assistance to. the man on the land.