FARMING AFFAIRS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 59, 28 July 1947, Page 3

FARMING AFFAIRS

MEAT INDUSTRY’S CLAIMS DISPOSAL OF POOL FUNDS This column is supplied weekly by Federated Farmers of N.Z. The information given is official but any views expressed are those of the Federation and are not necessarily those of this newspaper. Stabilisation Accounts The meat industry’s title to the funds at present in the Meat Pool Account and the Meat Industry Stabilisation Account is thoroughly safeguarded. An assurance to that effect has just been received from the Meat Producers’ Board by the Dominion Council of Federated Farmers which at its last meeting asked the Board to get a clear understanding about the large amounts held in the credit of those accounts. The Council contended that the time had come when that money should come under the control of the industry, to which it rightly belonged, and asked the board to obtain from the Government some definite assurance on the matter.

The Board has replied that at various times during the last three or four years it has raised the question of the industry’s title to those funds. As a result of the agreement reached when negotiating the Stabilisation Agreement for the 1946/47 season, the Board feels that the text of the agreement leaves no doubt as to the title to and ultimate destination of these funds.

The relative paragraph is as follows: “It is further agreed that no payments will be made out to the Meat Pool Account and the Meat Industry Stabilisation Account except in agreement with the N.Z. Meat Producers’ Board.”

“It is agreed that the balances in the Meat and Dairy Stabilisation Accounts, after debits have been made for items agreed upon between the Government and the Meat and Dairy Industry Joint Committee in terms of this agreement, will be preserved intact and used for the benefit of and by agreement with the respective industries.” While those clauses do not give the industry present control of the funds, they do specify the ultimate use of the funds and give the industry the right of agreement regarding their disposal. In effect, these clauses amplify the Prime Minister’s statement in a letter to the Joint Committee on November 11, 1944, in which he said, “The balances finally remaining in the Meat Pool Account and the Meat Industrial Stabilisation Account belong to and shall be held for the benefit of the industry.” Federated Farmers would prefer, of course, immediate producer control of the funds in question. Fencing Wire

Latest advice from the Minister of Industries and Commerce concerning the supplies of fencing wire indicate the continuance of the present shortage. As a result of the world-wide deterioration in the production of steel, wire importers in New Zealand are unable to have orders fulfilled. The Government has approached Sweden, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Canada, Australia and U.S.A. in its search for supplies and recently succeeded in having 1500 tons of wire made available from the United States. Canada has a total embargo on the export of steel and steel products while Australia has been unable to supply any galvanised wire since 1938. Other countries are having similar difficulties. Further supplies are, however, hoped for from U.S.A.

In reply to a complaint laid by the federation that wire was -being used for purposes of less importance than fencing—an urgent need today —the Minister said that the use of galvanised wire for other purposes was doubtful. The nail industry used considerable quantities of wire but that was hard, bright quality. Black or annealed wire was used for reinforcing, for wool dumping or hay baling. Mattress, stitching, spring and brush wires were also used in various industries but they, like the other types mentioned, were unsuitable for fencing. The Government, in the disposal of any wire in its possession and suitable for fencing, had and would give first priority to farmers..