The Daily News. TUESDAY, JUNE 10, 1919. THE PRODUCTION PROBLEM.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 June 1919, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, JUNE 10, 1919. THE PRODUCTION PROBLEM.

Our national debt has risen from £99,731,000 in 1914 to £166,164,385 in 1919, necessitatir.g the raising of an additional £3,k>54,000 per annum for interest and sinking t'und, on the basis of I'our and a half per cent and one per cent—an amount greater than the whole of the receipts for taxation in 1904. It is manifest that the ex- ' port of produce has not been increasing in quantity during the war. The actual amount, of wool exported- in 1916 was six per cent'

meat was seven per cent less, and the figures for 1917 were in most cases below those for 1916, frozen meat, butter, cheese and tallow all showing fairly large decreases. It is equally clear that it has. been in values only that the figures have risen—markedly so—the conclusion to be derived therefrom being that the prosperity of the Dominion and the ability to meet the large financial burdens are due to War prices and war profits. From an economical point of view this is a serious position, for the only reliable way of meeting increased burdens is by increased production, and though the Government has persistently recognised and advocated this sane policy it has practically taken n j effective action to put it into force. It would seem that Cabinet has not only been unable to devise means for dealing with the most vital matter that can confront ihe Dominion, but has also been devoid of the courage and resourcefulness shown by British Ministers in securing the services of competent and practical men outside Parliament to take charge of the production problem and solve it in the only possible way. Speaking recently at Wellington, Mr J. G. Harkness said: "It would pay the Dominion to hand over to competent men tha unoccupiel areas, the waste lands of this country, for a term of years, at a nominal rent, or even without rent, provided, in a given time, they added to the wealth of th». nation . . . .. What is needed most of all is increased production, m t only from the soil, but from all the industries ani mines."

This doctrine has been emphasised again and again, and though it is beyond question it still remains to be put into practice, in spite of being an economic necessity. The two essentials for increased production are an enlightened policy of land settlement and of public works. In a circular issued by the New Zealand Returned Soldiers' Association, land settlement is described as the outstanding issue in the Dominion to-day—the easiest, safest and surest way .of obtaining that increase in production which has become an economic necessity to the State. It is easy to believe that the Associ ation has come to the conclusion that the Government has failed to take advantage of a unique opportunity, and that its whole attitude has been utterly wrong and shortsighted. Although Ministers recognise that land settlement is a necessary part of repatriation, they have lost sight of the fact that the greatest &ain resulting from every increase in production accrues to the BtaK That they have not availed of the great opportunity of bringing the Dominion within a few yeans to the standard of production necessary to keep pace with the increased burdens of the country is ciear proof that they do not comprehend the true principles of government, for had they been imbued with those principles they would long since have made immediate preparations to place on the land not only tha soldiers who desired t: take up farms, but all returned men who could be interested in the primary industries, and they could also have made rural occupations so pleasant and profitable that they would have attracted the majority of the able-bodied men in the country as well as immigrants from the Motherland, but these are the things chat have not been done. By a process of spasmodic subdivision, high priced land has been utilised to place tl: e insignificant number of 2.7 per cent, of returned men on land already cultivated, and the end of the tether appears to have been reached. The settLjzjg mei^ga-

virgin land is apparency blocked owing to the absence of roads and railways. It is high t'.me this impediment, was removed by the adoption of a comprehensive scheme of public works and an intelligent distribution of the man-power now available. Settlement and public works can and should go hand in hand, and this necessitates a liberal immigration policy, especially as the effective able-bodied population has been decreased by about 40,000. The immediate resumption of an adequate system of road and railway construction is imperative, as is the bursting lip by heavy taxation of the large areas of good land suitable for sub-division that is not being put to its full productive use.