LOYALTY TO FARMERS

Taranaki Daily News, 21 September 1940, Page 2

LOYALTY TO FARMERS

DRIVE FOR PRODUCTION PRICE NOT CONSIDERED The dairy farmer, if he had done as some other sections of the community had done. would have first ascertained how much he was going to be paid for his produce, before he had agreed to increase production, but no, he was more loyal, he decided that if the Government wanted increased cheese and butter, he would do his utmost to supply it. remarked Mr. C. Foreman. chairman of the Tikorangi Dairy Company at Urenui on Thursday night, in replying to the toast of the dairy industry. He was commenting on the fact that the farmer did not know yet what he was going to be paid for this year's produce, and contrasting the attitude of the farmer with that of the waterside worker and freezing works worker who wanted to know what he was going to get for his work before he did it. "And quite right, too," he remarked. The dairy farmer, he pointed out. had been paid for his produce on a price fixed by the Government two and a-half years ago and then fixed at a price a farthing per pound butterfat below that recommended by the commission. Every other section of the community had received several riscs to me#t the increased cost of living. but the dairy farmer, though he not only had to meet increased cost of living but was also loaded down with the increased cost of production, had received no increase in his price. Possibly. said Mr. Foreman, the Government considered that the men who worked on the wharf or in the freezing works. etc.. were the men who worked for their living but Mr. Foreman said that his experience was that if there was an.y working class in New Zealand today it was the dairy farmer, who crawled out of bed early, started at 5 a.m. and was still working at 7 p.m. He did not get an hour for dinner. nor half an hour for lunch and was only able to take 10 minutes for breakfast. It was the duty of the producer to give the British Government what it wanted, not what the producer thought it ought to have, remarked Mr. H. M. Purdie, chairman of the North Taranaki Cooperative Dairy Company. in proposing the toast. It had been stated that evening he said that milk was the first requirement of the British Government and then cheese. Farmers wcre_ doing their utmost to supply the extra cheese, and. with the assistance of the suppuers of the Tikorangi district, the North Taranaki Dairy Company was making 118 cheese daily, which it was expected would reach 140 in the peak. Dairy farming was certainly the mainstay of the country and though the price had not yet been divulged by the Government as to what the farmer was to receive for his produce, all knew how costs had risen.