Kōrero: Government and agriculture

This cartoon from the November 1921 issue of New Zealand Free Lance refers to a newly introduced tariff. Tariff preference was extended to imports from the British Empire, lowering the cost of industrial goods that would hurt local manufacturers. However, agricultural implements were allowed to enter the country free of all duty to encourage farmers to use them. The cartoon suggests that farmers were given preferential treatment. There is no question that a primary concern of government economic policy in the interwar years was to promote and assist farming.