THE HEAT SITUATION
URGENT NEED TOT! ACTION. ' | Sir, —The primary producers now api pear to be thoroughly alive to the neces- :; fiity of attempting to deal effectively j with the difficult position likely to ol>i tain, in a few months' time, as rejrards ! our meat, and its exportation. I think i Mr. Massey was quite right in drawing I attention to the fact that: wo wore, and are, too much inclined to run to Mr ' Government of the day with every little ; tin-pot grievance and difficulty. The : successful exportation, and maintenance '■ of payable prices, for our primary pi'O' I ducts is not a tin-pot matter, and i:o 1 man in New Zealand realises the fact j better than does the present leader of , our (.tovernment. Mr. Massey's talk te : a. recent Wairarapa deputation fully I bears this out, and his casual reference ; to the present-day tendency to lean upon j Governments was given a prominence in ' tho reports, which was not felt by tho.se : comprising the. deputation, | As an elected supporter of Mr. Massoy. ! and one of Hit deputation mentioned. 1 ' am far from satisfied with Imperial i methods as regards both our wool and ; meat. Wo must all be aware, of Hie fact that the Imperial Government is dealing with great political questions at the present time, which would drive th'o average set of men to distraction, and , it can bo easily realised 'how our littlo
troubles over a few million pounds worth of meat arc allowed to drift out of sight as far as tho heads of the Government in England are concerned. The Imperial Government \fisoly during tho war willed in many oulsido experts, and, whilo they did great and useful'work for tho Empire during the war period, all t'He correspondence I am receiving from lingland leads mc to believe that while many of the experts worked during tlio war for nothing, they are not going to do so for Iho future. Our High Commissioner, I am led to believe, is doiii;,' nil ho possibly can do; but a ring' of trade experts, who gained inside knowledge duryig their assucialion with tho Imperial Government, is setting.a, paco which our little country will find difficulty in keeping mi with. Patriotism ia one thing. L.s.d. is another horse altogether, nnd there are men now at tho head of trading interests in London who until quite recently were closely associated with Imperial purchases of overseas product.?, who will squeeze us likft a ! '-mo;i, it we aro not able to hold our own.
Now, the question for to-day. is: Are we, as producers, a bio to hold our own against those interests without Govern■ment assistance.? ifr. Massey must not forget the fact that the trade methods giiKiing the handling and selling of our n-iyiiry nroducts (which took SO years, to build up) were ruthlessly trampled, upon by reason of the necessary commandeer. We are now asked to get back into old channels in a matter of four or fivo months. I have no hesitation in telling Mr. Ma6sey that this will not be brought about by calling a conclave of the Board of Agriculture, who I am sure up until the present havo not taken themselves seriously. During my election campaign I was several times asked, "When will the linperia' commandeer of wool and meat terminate?" Jly reply was, "The moment that it does' not pay the Imperial, authorities 'to purchase." The dairy people, through their National Association, arc, and for some time havo been, working with a degree of combination which is to lie admired.
Ono 'has only to look at the commandeer value figures, of our meat and wool, to realise what a place they take in f 'e prosperity as well as tax paying ability of our country. It therefore behoves the growers of wool and meat to get together as toon as possible Aud appoint representatives who will be able to speak for thoni. The, Board of Agriculture cuts no ice in the minds of most sheep and cattle men. T'h'e Farmers' Union and the Sheep Owners' Federation are the two organisations having the best machinery for q\tiekly getting producers together, and djie Government should lose no time in getting an expression 01 opihion through those bodies as to what may be considered the best method of tackling wlint is now admitted by everyone interested as a difficult problem. - If we are to avoid, chaos then we, as ■producers, must, through those we appoint as our representatives, endeavour to work | in harmony with the freezing companies. Owned entirely outside our shores, we can expect no gifts from tho 'representatives of shipping companies. I do not blame them—their affair is to make the most for their shareholders. Nobody looks upon them as philanthropists.
If tiie necessity arises (which I hopo Hot), I have every confidence that wo have the ability in this. country to cooperatively enter into the shipping business, as producers. I am at one vri'ih Mr. Masscy in being against State ownership of, ships, but if tlio Bank of New' Zealand was worth supporting then tho industry which makes hanking ]x>ssible in this country is doubly entitled to support.—l am, etc., ALEX. D. M'LEOD, M.P. February 5, 1920.
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Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 114, 7 February 1920, Page 8
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872THE HEAT SITUATION Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 114, 7 February 1920, Page 8
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