FARM COSTS

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23967, 7 June 1943, Page 4

FARM COSTS

STABILISATION OF MAIN ITEMS MINISTER ANNOUNCES SCHEDULE From Oui Parliamentary Reporter WELLINGTON, June 6. "The Prime Minister’s promise in December that the major items of farmers’ costs would be prevented from increasing has been implemented by the Government under a plan to stabilise the main items at the level of December 14," said the Minister in Charge of Stabilisation (the Hon. D. G. Sullivan) to-day. His announcement contained a list of items contributing specifically to farm costs, whose prices were now controlled under the stabilisation plan. Mr Sullivan said that already the cost of a wide range of commodities and services used by farmers had been stabilised and other items entering into farm costs were at present being dealt with. In deciding which items should be included in major farm costs, the Government had been considerably helped by farmers’ organisations. Administrative action to hold the cost of the items listed had been under way for some months so that prices actually being paid for these commodities were on stabilised levels and lower than they would have been if the scheme had not been’ brought into operation. '

The list quoted by Mr Sullivan is:— Manures (including superphosphate, basic superphosphate, blood and bone, burnt lime, and carbonate of lime); spare parts for agricultural machinery (including parts for ploughs, discs, cultivators, harrows, manure and lime distributors, rollers, tractors, tractor tyres and tubes, mowers, sweeps, haylifts, balers, binders, header harvesters, strippers, and threshing mills); sacks; baling wire. 14 and 15 gauge and all barbed fencing wire, eight and nine gauge fencing wire; wire-netting of various sizes and fabricated fencing; woolpacks; shearing machine, milking machine, and separator parts, and rubberware for milking machines; stock foods (including barley, linseed meal, and wheat meal, also known as stock meal); dairy factory requisites (including butter boxes, cheese bandages, cheese caps, cheese crates, nails and wire for crates); poultry foods (including fowl wheat, pollard, bran, barley, meat meal, oyster shell, fowl grit, straw, and straw chaff); ceresan, agrosan; binder twine, seaming twine; cow covers; sheep dip, sheep branding fluid; and rock salt. Fruitgrowers’ Prices

Mr Sullivan said a further list, effective from June 1, included items which mainly but not entirely concerned fruitgrowers. The reason for this differentiation in date was that fruitgrowers had already received increased prices for their main fruits to cover known increased costs of commodities entering into the production of this season’s crops. Items in this list were;—Seeds; arsenste of lead, bluestonc, cuprox, lime sulphur, colloidal sulphur, nicotine sulphate, spraying oil, fuel oil, hydrated lime; high-pressure spray hose; fruit cases, wrapping paper, case liners, case nails; spare parts of graders and spray pumps; nitrate of soda, sulphate of ammonia, potash, dried blood, and bone dust.

Mr Sullivan said that in his broadcast speech of December v ls. the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser) had indicated that not only wages and other incomes but also costs had been or were to be stabilised by one means or another. The price the farmer received for all the main farm products, many of them already stabilised, would not be increased. The major items of farmers costs would correspondingly b . e " The general scheme of stabilisation provides that if the wartime price index shows an increase of 2.J per cent., then the Arbitration Court will issue a general order increasing wages, said the Minister. “After that there is to be no adjustment up or down unless the index reflects a movement of 5 ner cent. The Government has undertaken that the principle underlying this shall be applied to the farming industry.”