OVERSEAS PRICES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 71, 8 May 1946, Page 2

OVERSEAS PRICES

FARMERS VOICE IN FIXING DAIRY BOARD’S REPRESENTATIVE “The industry has not been happy during recent years when the Government has been negotiating contracts with the British Government, and arranging prices, without the industry itself being directly represented,” said the Acting-Chairman of the New Zealand Dairy Board, Mr A. Linton, when addressing the Ward Conference at Whakatane last Wednesday. “It is true that on the last occasion the industry was allowed a form of direct representation, and the Board then asked Mr William Goo'dfellow to act on behalf of the industry. However, while Mr Goodfellow was consulted, and while he agreed that so far as price was concerned, he was satisfied we got. the best available deal, the question of lump sum payments was dealt with as between Government and' Government. After an exhaustive investigation your representatives accepted the results, but the industry then made it clear that it disliked the whole tenor of lump sum payments, and expressed the very definite opinion that these should never feature in future contracts.

“The Board has been concerned in seeing that the industry is allowed representation when price negotiations come under review with the British Government this year, and just before our Chairman, Mr Hale, left for London recently, the Minister of Finance, Mr Nash, agreed that the industry should be represented right through the negotiations, and so Mr Hale will be taking part in them. You will realise of course that the contract, and the lump sum payments were made for a period of four years. However, the right to have the price reviewed at the end of two years was given both parties, and it is in connection with these price negotiations that Mr Hale will be associated with Mr Nash. That we have at last been successful in securing representation in price negotiations for the sale of our produce is l something; it would be even more satisfactory if I could announce to you that we had also been successful in persuading Mr Nash to accept the industry’s export marketing scheme. Perhaps his agreement to Mr Hale representing us in the price negotiations is but the forerunner of his complete agreement with our marketing scheme. Let us hope so at any rate,” concluded Mr Linton.