“ALL IN IT”

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 18, 12 April 1927, Page 1

“ALL IN IT”

TOO MANY LUXURIES MINISTER ON WARPATH WANTED—MORE INDUSTRIES At a gathering at Paeroa last evening the Hon. A. D. McLeod, Minister of Lands, vigorously denounced over-indulgence in luxuries as the chief cause of the present depression in New Zealand. The Dominion had been rash in its imports, he said, and every section of the community was to blame. Mr. McLeod modestly protested after his health had been proposed by Mr. H. M. Corbett, chairman of the Ohinemuri County Council, that he was not worth one-quarter of what had been said. “I would rather be a good farmer than a good Minister,” he said, “because I realise how much New Zealand is dependent on the good farmer, and how much she will be dependent on the good farmer for many years to come. AFTERMATH OF WAR New Zealand was not singular in the present depression, nor in the plight of its primary producers whose position was the same the world over. But when they saw how much worse was the positon of primary producers in other parts o*f the British Empire, then

they had to realise that they had many reasons to be thankful. It was all the result of post-war conditions. While they were ringing the joy bells after the war they all believed that the financial as well as. the physical stresses of the war were over. Now the position was that the situation would take years of skilful handling before the effects of the war passed •away. “Where we erred was in making rash imports. We are all in it, everyone of us. The farmer cannot blame the townsman, nor the townsman the farmer. All of us are in it to our disadvantage.”’ The Minister went on to advocate the development of secondary industries. He felt sorry for those who advocated free trade, and free trade aloile. The immense hydro-electric projects undertaken by the Government could not be justified if they were to be for the benefit of the primary pro-

ducers alone. Unless those great schemes were to become a burden on the producers they would have to build up secondary industries to absorb the country’s primary products.