Legislative Assembly

dollars into the farmer’s p0cket, but no I’m afraid not, it hasn’t happened yet, but we hope it will.

We hope so, and we think it is coming, but it takes a long time to get across the strait in an ice boat. I guess the ice boat was going the other way.

The potato market is depressed, but this is not probably the full blame of the Government, probably it is not, but I don’t know whether too much was done to rect- ify it.

Honourable Daniel J. MacDonald: Not a thing, not a thing.

Preston D. MacLure: But I want to be honest if I can at all, and give every- body credit where credit is due, but not credit that is not always due to some people and I am afraid this is one of the things that not quite enough effort was put into earlier in the year . . .

Honourable George J. Ferguson: Too many planted last spring.

Preston D. MacLure: Too many potatoes, I know that and if people had been advised, if we knew the first of last November what our crop was, how big our crop was on the Island and there was a retty good idea in the rest of Canada because Prince Edward Island is one of the ast markets to go on the market in the fall, and all the others are ready to go on the market before that. If people had been advised a little earlier in the year to get as many potatoes to market as they could probably our market would not be quite as depressed as it is now, because the price last fall, though not high, is a lot better than it is to-dny.

Now, the farm machinery problem is quite a problem today. It was in some years ago when farm machinery, especially tractors, came on the market fairly plenti- ful on the Island here around 1940 I think. In 1940 came the first of very many trac- tors on Prince Edward Island. Being a farmer at that time, I bought a tractor, a new tractor in 1946 including a two saw plough and a pulley for $1,200.00. Now to-day this tractor would cost somewhere in the vicinity of $4,500.00. Now this is a great rise in prices in farm machinery in the past years. Some of it is due to higher wages in the manufacturing industry, higher costs of material and with the greater turn-in of old machinery to the dealer. This dealer has quite a 'ob to absorb that old machine , be- cause not everyone is anxious to take off the dea er’s hands someone else’s troub e. So the price of the old machinery has to be applied to the new machinery. Now this is somethin that is quite hard for the Government to control, the price of farm mach- inery to- ay, which has become a great problem and cost to all the farmers.

The next item is licenses for trucks. Now seasonal licences for trucks, I kind of understood in the platform of the Government before election, the Government that is in office now that this would be on farm trucks but according to this I see it applies to all seasonal trucks. I am not very clear on that. I have not heard the policy of what it is, but this is a good thing for seasonal trucks that they will not have to pay the full price to license their trucks. I am afraid if this is not closely watched, it will be abused. This will have to be one item here that will have to be very closely watched at all times or it can become abused too, like many other items in the past.

Now, “to encourage greater crop yields, further, in Government will continue payments on fertilizer subsidy,” and this fertilizer subsi y was implemented by the former Government, I think it was. I don't remember at that time but I think it was implemented by the Shaw Government and I see that it is going to be carried on. Now this is a great help to the farmer that is trying to do his best in raising crops and what have you, to stay on the land. I think this is an encouragement to stay on the land and I hope, Mr. Speaker, that the Minister of A 'culture will do everything in his power to kee as many people on the land as possi le. This is not always ssible because myself, ing a former farmer, I have left the land. But that is not t e case where many boys growing up that can stay on the land and they should be encouraged to. I have no boys in my family so I found that I must go to another field of work.

Now, the next, high quality forage for livestock feeding, this is a good thing because this is one of the best money making schemes for the farmer in livestock feed is having good quality forage. I think more grain should be grown on Prince Edward Island than there is at the present time. A great lot of money is paid out in subsidies

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