PRIMARY PRODUCERS

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 126, 25 February 1928, Page 10

PRIMARY PRODUCERS

HOW GOVERNMENT HAS HELPED INCONSISTENT CRITICISMS LEADERS TAKEN TO TASK Some of the directions in which the Government has assisted the primary producers of the Dominion were surveyed by the Minister of Lands (Hon. A. D. McLeod) in a public address this week at Te Awamutu, in which he also dealt with recent criticism by the Leader of the Nationalist and Labour Parties. "The cry of a certain section of the primary producers to-day,” said the Minister, “is ‘what has the present Government done for the farmers’? I shall first refer to the activities of the State Advances Department. During the past seven years a sum of over £15,000,000 has’ been made available by this Department for lending to primary producers alone, the bulk of which has been used for the purpose of paying off mortgages on rural land which the owners’had incurred in the first place. While it is confidently believed that the security granted by farmers amply covers this’ large amount, they should not forget that were it not for the guarantee of the general taxpayer, it would not alwavs have been possible to raise the loans’ so quicklv, or at such reasonable rates. ' In addition to the ordinary advances, the taxpaver has also been asked to become finallv responsible for a further £1,600,000 as a guarantee for the long term rural bonds and intermediate credit bonds iiqw being placed upon the financial market. Carriage of Manures. “During the past year alone the taxpavers as a whole have been asked to fin’d over £lOO,OOO to provide the farmers with reduced rates for the carriage of lime and manures, and large sums are being contributed from the taxpavers’ general fund to assist the fruitgrowers and pig raisers. _ I prefer to use the term ‘taxpaver’ in dealing with this matter for the reason that so manv people when using the word Government fail to realise that it is synonymous with taxpayer. No one realises more fullv than the members of the present Government that the success and progress of every taxpayer in this Dominion depends upon the success and prosperity of the primary producers, and not on one branch of the primary producers alone. The large votes being made for. the adequate functioning of the Agricultural Department, and for experiments and investigations of all kinds are being found by the taxpaver, and should be sufficient proof to the farmer of the Government s endeavours to assist in advancing our great primary industries. “Re-Hashed Criticism.” “To-day the leaders of the various parties are abroad in the land making charges against the Government, which in some cases they themselves have refuted in the one speech. “For instance, Mr. Forbes, speaking recently at Te Kuiti, condemned the Government’s highways and taxation legislation, and later, in answer to a question, stated that he was not able to suggest any improvement. “Mr. Holland’s, references to the land problems of this country, its occupation, ownership, valuation, mortgages, etc., are mere rehashes of criticisms which have been answered effectively on several occasions. Anyone taking the trouble to follow, carefully Mr. Holland’s statements will see that he resorts to the old political dodge of using statistics in such a way as to suit his own particular purpose. He quotes owners in one set of figures, and occupiers in the next. He quotes unimproved values at one stage and capital values at another. He quotes the number of rural occupiers separately for one purpose, and immediately afterwards quotes the total mortgage debt of both town and rural areas to show how farmers have been mortgaged during the Reform administration. It is an old political game which I suppose has been used bv every Opposition against every Government, and the only outstanding effect it has is to show fairly conclusively that he and the party he leads know little or nothing about the problems of the man on the. land, and certainly nothing about their solution. “Mr. Forbes, speaking at both Whangarei and Te Kuiti, referred to the growth of the national debt, and in the same sentence urged that more should be borrowed for the State Advances Department. He was careful to lump the borrowings in one sum, but failed to condemn any of the purposes . for which loan moneys had been raised. Had he wished to be fair he would have referred to the proportion of the borrowings which had been necessary for lending purposes, and for the completion of important public works such as hvdro-electric schemes in which primary producers as well as other sections of the community are vitally interested.” The Mortgage Position. “In a speech delivered by me some little time ago at Waipu,” continued the Minister, “I made reference to the mortgage position of rural lands as 1 saw it. This has been responsible for a controversy in a Hamilton paper, which 1 think has arisen largely from the fact that the report, which was necessarily condensed, did not give a clear indication of my views. Briefly the point I attempted to make was as follows: That to my own knowledge a great proportion of the mortgages were being placed upon a fairly sound basis bv adjustments of all kinds, and by advances made bv the Government and other lending institutions, and that with reasonable stability in produce values for some years, the position would be satisfactory. I said, however, that there were a certain number of mortgages, mostly unpaid balances owing to original vendors, which it appeared almost impossible to clear up. As an instance I cited cases where purchasers had given mortgages-.of say £4OOO on properties which under any system of Government valuation on a productive or prospective basis did not show more than perhaps £3OOO valuation. . If the mortgagee stood firm in exercising his undoubted rights and refused to make a concession, only one of two courses was open: either that the mortgagee foreclose or that some form of rural bank find the money for the purchase of a mortgage for wiiich reasonable security did not exist. To assist such cases the Government maintained for vears a moratorium to the prejudice of manv thousands who wished to borrow and’who had ample security. I concluded by saying that it was upon the requirements of those who unfortunately were in difficulties regarding their unpaid balances, that the Country Party was plaving bv saving that if representatives of that partv were elected to Parliament they would get them out of their troubles. But lam safe in saying that there are few who would subscribe to a suggestion that Parliament should pass a law breaking a legal and binding contract, without the consent of the parties thereto.”