FARMING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 July 1940, Page 9

FARMING

? L Mges raised MAXIMUM PRODUCTION WANTED. BROADCAST BY MINISTER. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY. June 29. The Minister of Agriculture; Mr Hudson, in a broadcast discussed a rise in price of a number of homegrown agricultural products necessitated by the raising of the minimum agricultural wage. A rise in farm workers’ wages will take place on Monday, and the farmer has been promised that the price he gets for his products shall cover the increased wages and other increased costs he has to meet. Mr Hudson emphasised that the new prices would be paid for this year only. They were for the most part in respect of the foodstuffs to which the farmer was committed last year. “We are finding out how much more each individual farm can produce, and the results will begin to come in soon." the Minister said. “This, then, is the position: To the farmers I would say I want you to realise that the nation counts on you to grow every possible bit of food on your particular farm. You must not think of reducing your labour; on the contrary a great many of you must be prepared to take on more in order to get the maximum yield from your fields. "To the farm labourers I would say you have for many years urged that you should get the same sort of wages as men in other jobs. You are going to get them. The country has recognised that your work is of vital national importance. Many workers in industry today are putting in unlimited overtime and are working on Sundays. See that you do no less, and that every hour that can be devoted to food production is put in by you. “This war may well be decided by whoever has the last week’s supply of food. It is up to all of us now in agriculture to see that we use every last ounce of energy and every last acre of land so that cur people have the last week’s supply.