TARIFF AND PRICES.

Wairarapa Age, 10 February 1927, Page 5

TARIFF AND PRICES.

HON. A. D. McLEOD URGES MODERATION. FAIR PLAY FOR THE FARMER. DUNEDIN, February 9. Speaking at the manufacturers’ dinner, the Hon. A. D. McLeod said—- “ There is no blinking the fact that the basic industries are iq a depressed state. You can put up what barriers you like, you can pay wages by necessity rather than by production, and you can borrow money for whatever purpcse you like; but should your basic industries remain unsound then the country ?✓ a whole must suffer.” Ho believed, from what he knew of the farmers, that if any attempt were made to impose an extremely high tariff the. farmers would consolidate their forces with the country labourers and be in a position to* return at least fifty members to Parliament. The country worker was not organised in the same way as the town worker, and there was no need for that; but he would certainly object to paying 45s for a pair of boots that cost him 15s before the war. It was necessary to educate the farmer as far as the tariff was concerned, and he was-sure that if their demands were reasonable the farmers would meet/them. The farmer, he said, had a sharp eye on the importer of monopoly-controlled manufactures outside Now Zealand.

The Minister painted out that the wool exports for the year were down by £“,Q00,OO0. He admitted that few woo] growers who knew anything about woo”! agreed that the values that ruled in 1924-25 could be maintained. He himself had received 2s 6d per lb for crossbred wool, and he did not expect ever to obtain such a price again. He believed that wool exports would be up a little this year, though not much. He considered that wool was now at such a point that growers whose runs weer not too heavily mortgaged and who* were fairly well established would make a reasonable living. Dealing with meat, he said that fat sheep were down 33 per cent, on the values ruling last year. A reduction of 7s or 8s meant a great deal to the sheep farmer. “Tho farmer has toiled hard during a difficult period of reconstruction.” he said, “and he will not be satisfied until every section of the community has taken its fair share.” There had been a complete collapse in the export of beef, and this also had been a serious blow to the farmer and th. r country.—(P.A.).