MR SANTON'S REMARKS QUERIED BY NATIONAL M.P.

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 66, 21 November 1949, Page 5

MR SANTON'S REMARKS QUERIED BY NATIONAL M.P.

During his visit to Whakatane last week, Mr E.- B. Corbett, M.P. ior Egmorit, said he would like to correct a wrong impression the Labr our candidate for Bay of Plenty,, Mr S Godfrey Santon, seemed to have concerning the marketing of prim- • ary products. -Mr Santon had said at Waimana that the Government had established the marketing system,' something the, /industry had,, been' unable to do because of dissension. That, Mr Corbett claimed, was not quite correct. He said the industry had drafted a national marketing system, even to the appointment of the officers to administer it. came into office and took over that system in its entirety, including the officers, who then became Marketing officers. But, regardless of a change of Government, the* system ' . -wouldhave been instituted that same year, the fruit of three years of preparation, and it. would be carried on under the advice of the industry after the change! of Government at .v, _ the end of this month. ''-Ji Though no one wanted to/ go back to "the good old days of Tooley Street speculators" referred to by Mr Santon. it had to be admitted , that those same merchants had been prominent in establishing our products on the world market- .

(Guarantee Will Stay y

Mr Santon had ; said Mr Holland i had not promised to continue to give guaranteed prices to farmers. Mr Corbett's reply to that was that it is definitely the National Party's policy to continue to give guaranteed prices. ./ He admitted he had heard complaints from farmers that they were losing by leaving in the pool account a portion of the money their products earned when prices were

\ high overseas, but it w*as his own ) ' belief that most would understand that the account must be built up in times of good* overseas prices to meet future fluctuations and equalise prices to farmers here. It would be true that transients in the industry (for instance sharemilkers who did only one or two seasons on . farms) might Leave the industry with some of their production's earnings still in' the pool,- but he thought most people" would recognise i that the system' had been designed by the industry to protect those whose life work was-primary production. Taxation Figures I • Regarding, the farmer' who paid '£lßo in income tax had i, £IBOO • left, Mr Corbett said he thought Mr Santon's "figures rrf&st have been at fault. With such a residue the inj; come tax should have been higher and, in balancing the £IBO against " Government benefits, Mr Santon had forgotten to take into account the 1/6 in th| £1 tax (in addition to income, tax) which was supposed to cover social security. He had also overlooked all the indirect taxes which contributed to today's high cost of living. [■■■■•] '■

Reducing Costs Concerning the National Party's |H claim that' living costs could be rer p- duced, 'Mr Santon j suggested that • ; there were only three items which . could be cut —cost of raw materials, wagds, or profits. Mr Corbett 1 said he- wondered if Mr Santon had ever appreciated that a greater output per unit of labour was probably one of the greatest possible means I of reducing prices to the consumer? That was why. the National Party aimed to furnish incentives for '.workers to turn out a greater, production per working hour, day or week.

"If a ship loads in five days in. Britain, and has to muck around here for 41 days to get unloaded, does any more come out of her holds than went into them?" he asked. One thing that was loading all our costs was the heavy cost of Gov-! ernment administration, and the slackening of efficiency in industry probably due to expensive Government interference.