The Waikato Times FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1939 PRODUCTION AND PRICES

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20922, 29 September 1939, Page 4

The Waikato Times FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1939 PRODUCTION AND PRICES

Such matters cannot perhaps be hurried, but New Zealand primary producers are asked to face the task of substantially increasing production under the handicap of not knowing what prices they are to receive for their output. It is not a matter of wishing to take advantage of the war situation to make undue profits, but rather of knowing what finance they will have to sustain the effort or to plan for greater production. There is every reason to believe that the primary producers of the Dominion are prepared to make a patriotic effort, but to assure the best results it is necessary to show them that a special and expensive effort now will not later result in embarrassment or ruin.

Australia’s surplus produce has already been “commandeered” by the British Government, but no indication of the price to be paid has been given the producers. Though it is not yet certain, it is assumed Britain will also purchase New Zealand’s export surplus. But there is a complete lack of information from the Government regarding the progress of the negotiations and the price that the farmers can expect to receive. The Dominion’s ability to plan increased production in the present season is rapidly passing with the spring, and it is desirable that full information should be available to the producers at the earliest possible moment.

New Zealand producers will have read the signs abroad and made certain deductions. For instance, a maximum wholesale price of butter of 145 s and a retail price of Is 7d a pound has been fixed in England in the meantime. Opinion has been expressed in Australia that the total return for primary produce will be considerably greater than in the previous season. Informed men in primary industry in New Zealand also express the belief that there will be a substantial advance in export prices, which indeed seems to be necessary not only to arrest the previous decline in production but to bring forth the greater production which everyone agrees is urgently necessary to secure maximum efficiency in the Empire’s war effort.

When all the factors are considered it seems there is no need for farmers whose finance is limited to decide not to lay plans for increased production on the ground that prices will not permit them to recoup their outlay. It is definitely in the national interest that they should produce more of all the essential commodities, and that they should start work without delay. Mr Nash will no doubt realise how important it is that he should at the earliest possible moment indicate the basis upon which the producers might work.