PLEDGE TO FARMERS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 55, 28 August 1939, Page 3

PLEDGE TO FARMERS

FULFILMENT DEMANDED - MR DOIDOIZ'S SPEECH "There is only one thing the farmers want —that is, a fulfilment 'of the pledge given them at the general election in 1935. If the Government will fulfil the pledge given then, the farmers will be satisfied, and that pledge Avas given by the Minister of Finance,* 9 said Mr F. W. Doidge, M.P. in his speech in the House last week. "The pledge given was that pay. nicnt to the farmer should be measured by the same tape as that used to measure the payment given to those AA'ho render equal servicc. That pledge was renewed in October of last year on the ca t c of the election. I have before me the document in which th e pledge Avas renewed. It is an 8-page pamphlet entitled ''Guaranteed Prices—-A Successful Reality."' On the front eoA'er is a picture of the Minister of Finance. Compensation v. Confiscation. ''Here is an extract from the pamphlet itself: "The principle of the guaranteed price has conic to stay. lOr guaranteed prices include compensation for all costs''^—that is the point I Avould like to sink into tee minds of Government members--"provision for reasonable Avagcs, provision for interest capital, and a remuneration to the farmer commensurate with the service he renders to the community and sufficient to give him a reasonable standard of living." "Members on the Government side of the House ask. What is the compensated price? There is the ansAA rcr given by the Minister—eompensat'on for all costs. And the issue today between the farmer and the Gov eminent is compensation, as against confiscation. Message from Katikali, "Why should not the farmer have the same rcAvard as is given to the Avaterside Avorker and to the members of a hundred other trade unions? On that issue I should like to be penn'tted to read a resolution carried at the annual meeting of the Katikati Co-operative Dairy Company a few days ago. One bundled and eight members aacic aml

!0(j voted for this resolution, awl two against it. After affirming that they had no quarrel with I lie guar, anteed price in principle, the resolution went on: "It is obvious however, that on a stationary or falling butter market, the guaranteed-pricc scheme will fail unless rising costs are controlled. At present it: is more important that costs should be reduced rather than that the price be increased. "That \s a most important statement, coming from a group of farmers in tlie Tauranga electorate. "Then we have had the Minister ol Agriculture in the last few days telling us quite seriously, and seemingly in all sincerity that there h-«s been no increase in costs in connection with dairy company operations. A most astonishing statement. The Hon M. Martin: I never said that. Mr Doidge: Well, I will accept the hon gentleman's word, but he certainly gave that impression. "However lot me quote the case of the Kaipara Dairy Company. That company is paying for butter boxes, made out of New Zealand white pine, 2-, 2 1 2<1 —that is at Helcnsville. In Australia, butter boxt-s made from I lie same New Zealand white pine are selling at Is Bd. Incidentally, the output from the Kaj. para Dairy Company has decreased b\ r 10 pL'r cent, while their cos'cs have risen, by £2100 a year. The Yard Slick.

<l As I have said, the Minister of Finance has declared that payment to the fanner should be measured by the same tape as that used to measure the payment given to thoje who render equal service. What a boon it would be to the farmer if that pledge were kepi by the Government? ''Here is a contrast: the beef butchers at the West field Freezing Works earn A!(>00 a ycar_ and in the ofl'_season. they go on relief work. I am sure that the farmer would be delighted if he could arrange matters so that he should work only dining tlie milking season, receive £4)00, and then go on relief for the iV'-sl of the period. ''Under the carpenters' award, carpenters working in air impregnated with dust get Is an hour extra. Wliv does not a farmer who is scattering manure get extra for . that? Again.-

a waterside worker gets stand-by payment while waiting in wet or windy weather. What stand-by payment does the farmer get when he is unable to work on account of the inclemency of the weather? under the carpenters' award, a joiner who works at a certain temperature gets Is an hour extra. Why not give the farmer Is extra "'for working in the snow we have been having lately? A carpenter working more than 12ft above j ground also gets Is an hour extra. Why, if a farmer or farm labourers working on u haystack got Is an hour extra, ho would whoop for joy. If they were paid on the same basi:> as a waterside worker, they would get £11 Is 4d a week. A Vital Letter. "May I read a letter, the most vital letter read in the presence of this House for a long time? It is written by a school master in my a brilliant man, who has the not only of his school, but of his district at heart. The letter reads: "There is an aspect of farming's future that is worrying me a great deal. In the last, year or so I have had several parents come to me, to ask if I will use my influence with the boys to induce them to keen to their original intention of taking up farming. In some cases, the boys in question are only sons. When I have talked to these lads, I have found that their view is that on the farm they will have to work early and late, seven days a week t for far less than an office, or shop ? or a factory, will offer them—and they are ''off' farming. Nov,*, that seems to me a very grave matter. Tf our youths— wh 0 are not fools—are getting th<> idea that farming as a career is all Avork and no repayment, then it is a bad state of affairs.'' "I commend that letter to the Acting-Prime Minister and to other members of the Government. If farmers cannot keep their own sons on their farms, what hope is there or enticing people back to the land? T contend that that is the most vital question that this country has to face up to; hut th : <? Government is not facing up to it. The Government gives all its thoughts to the people in our towns and cities: but it has got to bear in mind that, ay the Prime Minister says in the Hudget. our one hope is in increased primary production.