PRIMARY PRODUCTION

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 263, 5 August 1942, Page 8

PRIMARY PRODUCTION

Wellington District Council INAUGURAL MEETING The inattrgural meeting of the "Wellington District Council of Primary Production was held on Monday, when there were present: Messrs. J. .T. Maher, E. M. Lynch, IL Sievers, D. 11. Hoggard, P. Wall, G. Bruce and E. Windley. The only member not present was Mr. K. Geange. Messrs. 11. Tennent, J. E. Bell and T. M. Sim, of the Department of Agriculture, and Mr. E. M. Bowden, of the National Service Department, were also in attendance. Mr. Maher was elected chairman and Mr, O. G. Thomas secretary-organizer. Mr. Tennent said that now that Mr. Polson had taken over the job as Minister of Primary Production for War Purposes he was particularly anxious that the district councils should be vested with greater powers than they had hitherto had, and had determined to give them a status and a job in the community which would be commensurate with the activities which an important body like a district council of primary production should have. Cons'eqtiefitly he had agreed to finance each council by making them a fairly considerable grant, and allowing them to employ their own secretary and to pay reasonable expenses to the members attending the various meetings, and to Pay reasonable expenses to the secre-tary-organizer for carrying out the work which councils would be called on to do. The Minister was also keen to set up more councils tliau at present existed, realizing that the coverage was not as good as it should be. He had, therefore, increased the district councils from 32 to 37, thus establishing five new councils. The Minister was very much concerned with the Wellington end of the province, and had felt that it was not represented on the National Council, nor was there any representative body set up here which could deal with the problems that were going to arise; aud accordingly he had given instructions to set up a district council of primary production in Wellington, and had invited them to form a district council which would be affiliated with the National Couueil. i Release of Men. \ It was going to be one of the council s jobs to see that the Minister’s desires were carried out in regard to the release of men from the Army, as well as to see that the men who had been called up and whom the couueil considered should stay on the farms did so. Mr. Maher said that he knew of cases where farmers’ sons were now doing a better job of work by staying on the farms, but they did. not want to be branded as cowards. This was a matter that should be attended to by the council. He was satisfied that the council ns set up would do a good job of work for the Government and the nation. Mr. Bruce mentioned that they would be dealing with! the Wellington Manpower Board, on which body there was no farmer representative. They would be empowered to make definite representations as members of the council to the Appeal Board. The Appeal Boards had now received instructions from, the rxiitional Service Department telling them that every notice had to be taken pt the representations of the district councils, and pointing out how necessary it was for men to go back to the farms. Mr. Windley said that if responsible production councils were going to be in the position of having to make recommendations to Appeal Boards to release men, be did not think they would sucSievers said a good deal had been said on the question of the jurisdiction of Appeal Boards and so forth, but he gathered from the statements made that the Appeal Boards were fairly well acquainted with the position, and. as Mr. Tennent had stated, if- the notification had the backing of the council their word would carry a good deal. Mr. Tennent said that the great difficultv concerned winter milk. The bulk of their problems would be toward that end Egg production was also very important in this district; also pig production. Winter milk and sheep-farming ■were obviously their two min PO'”*®’ and they had to see that they had fertilizer labour and the essential commodities to keep the industries going.