BUTTER AND BACON

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 November 1939, Page 3

BUTTER AND BACON

GREATER PRODUCTION NEEDED. RATIONING IN ENGLAND. ‘’The announcement that the rationing of butter and bacon has been introduced in England emphasises the seriousness of the warning given the Government by the deputation on Thursday,” says an official statement of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union. “It now behoves every farmer in New Zealand who is producing these products to make his utmost efforts to produce more and it behoves the Government to take effective steps to bring the cost of production of these commodities into line with their prices. Unless the Government takes the effective action referred to, the farmers of this country will not be able .to carry out properly their duty to New Zealand and to the Empire. The union is confident that notwithstanding the handicap under which the farmers —particularly the dairyfarmers —are working, they will loyally strive to produce to the utmost extent of their ability.

“It should be emphasised also that the farming community is willing to cheerfully bear its rightful share of any sacrifices which the war makes necessary. Their contention is. how-, ever, that up till the present time these sacrifices are not being equally borne, and quite apart from the dairyfarmer who is now expected to produce for the same price when costs are much higher, the case of the fruitgrower is the most glaring. The fruitgrowers of New Zealand are compelled to make the extreme sacrifice of losing their overseas market in order that the other producers of New Zealand may be able to ship their produce. This sacrifice on the part of the orchardists should be borne equally by the whole community, and they should not be asked to bear the whole of the loss. “We would reiterate that the farming community will at all times strive to produce the things in the quantities which the Old Country so urgently requires, but we feel that the policy of the Government should be altered so that farmers may bo able to perforin that duty to the Empire which this emergency demands.”