OUR PRIMARY INDUSTRIES

Hokitika Guardian, 26 August 1930, Page 2

OUR PRIMARY INDUSTRIES

(Mercantile Gazette)

Mr V. R. Poison, the President of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union, said at a meeting last week, that while the farmers of the Dominion were compelled to accept the world’s parity For the produce they exported, costs ot production had been increasing against them for many years and had now readied 70 per cent, more than they were in pre-war times. ‘Whatever Mr Poison says ex cathedra, is always worth'considering, arid in stating this enormous increase in the cost of producing our primary industries, he simply calls attention to the fact which a great many people have recognised, is going to destroy all possibility of those living upon the land, being able to remain there. If relief cannot be obtained, then our country acres must fall in value, until our equation is restored. Land is worth what it will produce and noth irtg more, arid those' who own it will unless their Costs chit be reduced have to leave the mortgagees td do the best they cnil foi‘ themselves. The men who farm must at least' obtain for their Work sufficient to pay the rent, or interest, their own cost of living and obtain a, reasonable profit to enable them, to enjoy at least the same standard of living as is possessed by the workers who are engaged in the secondary industries of the Dominion. The farmer works long hours, and must receive for his services remuneration equal to what the urban workers in the sheltered trades obtain to-day.

We have been attempting for 40 years to do that which is impossible, to make the residents in the cities comfortable and prosperous at the cost of the rural population. Workers in the sheltered secondary industries have been given wages which have continually ascended, until they can go no further. As commodities increased in price through the artificial stimulation of wages, the Arbitration Court has, whenever the index figures showed an upward movement in the retail establishments, increased wages. Had France, the one prosperous nation to-dav, followed what has been done in New Zealand and Australia, the employers would have been compelled to pay their people thirty shillings per day to meet the increased price of food; this was not done because the French with their usual sagacity and prudence, saw that the principle was wrong and if applied would have spelt ruin. The French workman looks for continuity of employment as the first consideration, and his recognised standard of living h satisfied, if he gets plenty of good food, a comfortable bed to sleep upon and decent clothes to wear. He does not require holidays, nor entertainment money, and he religiously guards every week, a portion of his earnings which are safely stowed away to meet emergencies.

In New Zealand, we are trying, with the aid of the Arbitration Court, to prove that the prosperity of the country can be increased by doing as little ns possible. If any candidate for Parliament were to state that people must do more work, and spend loss in amusements in order to bring prosperity to Now Zealand, lie would probably forfeit bis deposit ; the doctrine best appreciated is that increased expenditure by the Government and decreased labour will eventually bring the country out of every trouble. The high cost of production in the country must be supported by tariffs, without which the whole artificial system upon which we work, would fall to pieces at once.

We do not suggest that the secondary industries of the country should not bo assisted by protective duties nut these, bv increasing the cost of living, arc made the excuse for wage increases, and so the vicious spiral is constantly mounting and must continue ascending until the country is brought into that position when its finances will become totally disorganised. It is a fallacy to suppose it possible, to have the worker's in any wonexporting industry, protected by high

wages against the operation of economical disturbance®, without the cost being thrown upon those who are producing from the land those' exports which establish credits in London, without, which we should be bankrupt. There is no other means of paying for the. goods we import, or our indebtedness for interest, but the shipment of produce, which must be exported at a profit to the farmer, or land must fall until it reaches a. price, which even under the present system would leave him at least sufficient surplus to enable him to live.

Tf our farming land values fell by 50 per cent, those who have lent money upon.them would nave to face a loss of millions. There is, however, no escape from the possibility as the farmers cannot carry on for long; the increased costs which are being loaded upon them under our system of sheltering the urban workers by the protection of Arbitration Court Awards is a creeping paralysis which in time will destroy our exports. In the interest, of the secondary industries cost of production must be reduced. No better quality of goods is manufactured in the world than in this Dominion, but the prices are too high by reason of the cost; if that could be reduced there would be no necessity to adopt slogans, or to consider tariff protection to the same extent as at present, liS the public would he quite prepared to appreciate a good article at a reasonable price.

In the meantime, costs must come down, to the exporter of our produce, That he must accept world parity is axiomatic, but there is no just reason why costs of his production should exceed by 70 per cent., what they were in 1014, when he was receiving, in the onen market, the prices he obtains today.