THE FARMERS' PRESIDENT SPEAKS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 151, 14 July 1937, Page 4

THE FARMERS' PRESIDENT SPEAKS

On other page? of this issue will be found a fairly full report of the opening address of the President at the annual conference of the New Zealand Farmers' Union which commenced its sittings at Wellington this forenoon. It will, or at qny rate should, be read with interest hy many more than the farming community to which it is primarily directed, for Mr. Mulholland touches incidentally, but still very pertinently, upon many points that are of serious Concern to the general body of the people. Indeed, it may also be said that anything that affects the welfare of our farming industries is matter of moment to u§ all, for it is mainly upon them that the real — as distinguished from the artificial — prosperity of the country depends. Broadly speaking, when the returns from our exportable rural products fa'll below a paybale level we have a depression. When they are adequate to meet the costs of production and still have some fair margin of profit, then we have recovery and are set on the road to revived, prosperity. No more convincing instance of this can be found than in the economic and social history of the Dominion during the last seven or eight years. When in each of the years 1930 and 1931 the value of our exports of farm products fell to somewhere about £33-million we were a'll dragged down to the depths of the depression. Since the realisation on such exports began to improve appreciably in 1934 general conditions also began to improve, until in 1936 they brought us in something like £60-million, quite sufficient to account largely for the present mild "boom" that we are experiencing — really a reflection of the hetter times which, as a result of sound governmental policy, are being enjoyed in the Old Country by the . eventual customers for our main exports. Should that now profitable market, from any unforseen cause, again slump, then we may be sure that the effect will speedily spread to New Zealand and no pumping of fairy money into our limited internal market will stay its progress. . There is thus every good reason why the whole public of the Dominion should take an interest im the review of conditions and prospects in our primary industries which the president of the Farmers' Union now provides. Mr. Mulholland discusses the situation, as it appears to him, in a perfectly moderate, temperate and logical way, and it will readily be gathered that, while giving the present Government credit for its good intentions tow.ards the farmers, he is far from being satisfied that, from the point of view either of the farmers themselves or of the people at large, it has gone in anything like the right way to carry them into effect. It may be said that, as a remedial measure, even for the one industry to which it has so far been .applied, the scheme of so-called guaranteed prices has to his mind proved that it cannot possibly be given permanence without disastrous results. Its eventual application to all exportable primary products, as the Labour policy proposed, is regarded as financially impracticable, even with a compulsorily compliant Reserve Bank at the Government 's back ready to do its bidding in the way of pledging the "national credit," which in the long run simply means the capacity of the taxpayers to stand the im- . positions laid upon them. The president proceeds to discuss alternatives, but apparently withont coming to any very definite eonclusion other than that the establishment of political control of the marketing of our exports is not in the best interests of either the farmers or of their fellowcitizens. Of especial interest to all producers, whether primary or seeondary, is wbat Mr. Mulholland has to say with respect to Labour 's declared basie policy of assuming to the Government ' 'all means of production, distribution and exchange." As he points out, from neither the Prime Minister nor any of his ' Ministerial colleagues has it been found possible 'bo extract any information as to how far along these lines they mean to travel. Mr. Mulholland, anxious to be entirely fair, says that much of the Government's legislation is capable of being used ' for industrial advancement under private ownership. At the same time, however, he finds himself compelled to admit that it is also capable of being used so as practically to force private enterprise and initiative off the face of the earth so far as New Zealand is concerned, giving specific instances which readers would do well to note. Already we have seen these powers put into operation in more than one way, the latest and perhaps most significant being with regard to road transport.