THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY. “Public Service.” FRIDAY, MAY 28, 1943 PRODUCTIVE CAPACITY

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 3269, 28 May 1943, Page 4

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY. “Public Service.” FRIDAY, MAY 28, 1943 PRODUCTIVE CAPACITY

Because it is a matter directly affecting the future prosperity of the Dominion it is to be "hoped that the Government will accede to the request of the Dominion Dairy Conference and set up a commission to inquire into the effects of existing conditions on future farm production. The conference based its request on (a) the deterioration of farm assets due to the shortage of labour and fertiliser, and (b) the taxation, as income, of money normally spent on maintenance. It was urged that action be taken “to minimise such deterioration and reduction of farmers’ incomes.” The whole thing resolves into the maintenance of the productive capacity of our farm lands, and if that cannot be ensured then nothing can prevent a serious decline in farming income and so in the national aggregate, thus prejudicing every section of our people.

The conditions that now obtain are exceptional, and had they ruled for a comparatively short period probably no very serious adverse results need have been feared. But already it is a matter of years, and no one can say how long it will continue so that, in the national interests, there should be a careful review of the position and the prospects. The one thing that the Dominion could not face unconcernedly would be a serious decline in the productive capacity of its land, and every effort must be made to avert, or at any rate minimise, any risk of this happening. The produce is required urgently now, and there is good reason to conclude that it will be as generally in demand in the years to come. The Food Conference now sitting in Virginia can be taken to indicate the extent of future requirements. But if the present levels of production are being maintained by “mining” the resources of the soil, then the future output will inevitably be restricted. Production is being affected in many districts by the growth of scrub and the spread of noxious weeds, because the labour usually employed to keep them down is not now available, and on many properties the repairing of fences cannot be undertaken either through lack of wire or labour, or both. These things tend to reduce production, and all of them contribute to the “deterioration of farm assets” to which the Dairy Conference has referred. Through their inability to spend what is required for the proper maintenance of their holdings the incomes of farmers will show, in many instance, a larger assessable balance and be liable for a heavier rate of taxation. The apparent increase represents, in the last analysis, not available income so much as the drain, expressed in terms of money, they have been compelled to make on the productive capacity of their farms without the normal replacement. It is a process, obviously, that could not be continued indefinitely, and if the apparent increase of income is taken in the form of taxation then the jneans of restoring the property to its former productive level will have vanished. There is. said to be power for the individual taxpayer to represent the position to the taxing authorities, but a careful examination by a commission might be able to devise some other method that could be applied ■' J wh>h •

would provide an equitable method of preserving these funds for maintenance expenditure as opportunity arises. The fact must be faced that the forced inaction of farmers in respect of maintenance expenditure to-day may produce results that will be felt with cumulative effect in future years, for the carrying capacity of pastures can be reduced much more rapidly than it can be restored. The whole problem needs to be probed. It is in no way a political matter but solely economic and it directly affects the prosperity of the Dominion. The community could not afford to have its farm lands become a diminishing asset, and to the extent that protection against that risk can be provided by our own action it should be taken, for delay may be costly.