STABILISATION AGREEMENT TO BE RECONSIDERED

Chronicle (Levin), 6 September 1946, Page 4

STABILISATION AGREEMENT TO BE RECONSIDERED

-Press Association

By Telegraph-

WELLINGTON, riept. 5. The decision of the special Commission of Inquiry on the retail dairy pnce subsidy nieant a loss to dairy producers of between £600,000 and £700,000 compared with what they would have received had the produce sold loeally been. exported, said the chairman of the dairy sectioa? of Federated Farmers, Mr. H. E. Blyde, when interviewed m Wellington by telephone. If the same procedure were adopted next year, tfte loss to producers would be more than £1,000,000. " Before the Commission sat, the industry stated that it would abide by tne fmdings and now that the decision has gone against us we will have t'o .stand by the decision, but the whole question of the future will be diseussed today and on Fridav at the annuai conference of the New Zealand Dairy Board," said Mr. Blyde. "The minority report indicates clearlv that from the point of view of equity and jnstiee, the decision might have been for the industry, but on the strictly legal interpretation of the stabilisation agreement, the decision has gone against us. We can do nothing about it. The dairy industry will naturally be very concerned that the decision has gone against it becaupe it is a very vital matter, " continued Mr. Blyde. "It means that 'the dairy farmer has to carrv an unfair burden as far as stabilisation is concerned. When Ihe stabilisation agreement was made with the Government, it was never anticipated that this would be the position and I empliasise that it was never the intention of the industry that it .should be so. " The stabilisation agreement could be terminated by either partv, said Mr. Blyde, but the intention was that it would remain in force as long as tne stabilisation policy was in vogue. But whether the agreement would be continued in the future was a. matter ror the Dairy Board conference to eonsider.