The Daily News. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1917. THE ESSENTIAL INDUSTRIES.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 February 1917, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1917. THE ESSENTIAL INDUSTRIES.

The operations of the various Military Appeal Boards leave no room for doubt as to the necessity for the Government taking immediate action to organise the leanhood of the country. No matter how necessary his services may be to the* general community, an appellant receives short shrift froro tile Appeal Board, which aims at securing for the Army every man fit to carry arms without regard to anything else. Physical fitness ceems to be the only point considered, and it requires little discernment to know that before long, with the continual drain 011 the rural manhood, it will be impossible to maintain our exports of produce. Already there is a great scarcity of labor, and farmers, in Taranaki at any rate, are carrying on now under the greatest difficulties. They are making' the fullest use of farming machinery, they are utilising the services of their children and their I wives and not sparing themselves, yet many are finding it necessary to reduce their herds, and, in some instances, are being compelled to discontinue milking and to turn to grazing. What the position will be next season i<- is hard to say, but onq thing is certain, if the Government does not do something in the way of organising labor, our supply of foodstuffs must show a substantial falling off in the near future. To supply foodstuffs is just as important to th*> success of our armies as the supply of men, and when conscription was put i:ito force the Government, had it shown any sense and an appreciation of the necessities of the future, would have formulated a comprehensive scheme for the employment of the country's man hcod only in essential industries. It is ti'up that the Government has now set up, at this eleventh hour, the Industrial Efficiency Board, in order to organise industry during and after the war, but its powers and scope seem to be too limited to make it really useful and enable it to fill the bill. The country has accepted llie principle that physically fit men t\uen the ages of twenty and forty-six are liable to be compelled to serve as soldiers, but is it fair that individual sacrifices should be confined to men of a cdrtain age that may be drawn in the ballot? Should not those outside the ages mentioned also be called upon to render service to the country in order to help to win the war? Young farmers are obliged to sell up their places at a sacrifice. Forced sales almost invariably entail losses. We know of a case of two young men in the north Auckland district, called up in the first ballot, whs wore obliged to quit property for £3OOO that was worth £7OOO. There are men, above the military age, of course, who are looking out, cormorantlike, for these snips. There ought to be some way of helping such eases. The Government might reasonably conscript, if necessary, the services of some of the retired farmers to be found in every town to manage the farms, or take the farm properties over and place 011 them returned soldiers, instead of purchasing blocks from speculators and wealthy farmers. We are aware ■ that in some cases the fathers of young farmers are managing their sons' holdings, hut, as a rule, the men called up are devoid of help in th's direction. It would seem that if mer are taken off the land to serve their country, the Government should take over the land, stock, and equipments at a valuation, and work it during the war 1 the best way they can devise, giving the holders the right, 011 their return from the war, to repurchase at a valuation, but, in the event of non-return or failure to accept the option, the land

i:i be utilised for landless returned so'.- : fi's. This would be a fair and equiti arrangement, and would remove

mo in hardship, which is deterring men on the laiul from voluntarily enlisting. It is not rig'ht that a man, as well risking his life, should be compelled to risk the savings and work of a lifetime. The Government sees fit to obtain exemption for many of its own officers, as witness the recent exemptions of railway servants, whose work could be done in i > instances by superannuated officers ■;irls, yet in more essential industries, such as farming, it will not raise its hand to assist. The Ciovemmont has all along shown little capacity for .'.ealing with the Dominion's problems. The chiol members of the Cabinet glibly talk in London of what "Cod's Own Country" is doing to assist tho Allies in winning the war, but it would be much more to the point if they remained here and sought to solve the problems they themselves

vlpcd to create. No one minds makins a sacrifice for Die nation in its hour of trial, so long as tho "other fellow" is doing the same. Bnt at present the sacrifice is all c.n the one side. A comprehensive scheme is needed, embracing all men, 'women, girls and boys, in orde; to carry on the essential industries find help to win the war. The task is no iight one, certainly, but it lias been successfully surmounted in France and is being overcome in Britain at the present moment. Surely, therefore, New Zealand can rise to tha emergency.