MR. FRASER LEAVES DOUBT

Chronicle (Levin), 23 November 1946, Page 4

MR. FRASER LEAVES DOUBT

—Press Association

MR. HOLHANO DEFINITE AND §ATI§FAPTQRy

By Telegravh-

m\V PLYaVWUTH, Nov/ 22. "It is very grati/ying indeed to'notc Mr. Holland ?s reply is so definite and s^tisfaet.ory/' said Mr. II. E. 'j^iyde, Lepperton, .ehairraan of the Pqminjon action eoramitte.e of Federat.ed Farmer.s. and cdiairman of the dairy sqctiop, m a statement made today on. th,e replies of the leaders of the two pojiticaJ parties to the questionmaire on market ing and other maliers submitted tq them l).y Federated Farmer.s. "It seems, he added, "that as far as Mr. Holland is concqrned, the farmer.s will stil] have their stabilised prices Their- ownership of the funds in the stabilisation account is also made very' definite. ' ' As c-hairman of the dairy section he" was naturally very interested in the replitfs. Mr. Blyde said Mr. Ilolland 's statement eoncernjng the farmer.s ' ownership of Ihe funds was necessary because two or tliree members of the Labour Government had stated from the hustings that this mouev belonged to New Zealand and no.t to tlie farmers. It was therefore pleasing to have the point eleared up as far as Mr. Holland was eoneerned. A big point in Mr. Ilolland 's replv* was that the producers would be in the majority on the bodies dealing with primary production and marketing. " In other words, it means produce:eontrol of marketing. This is an important point because it is in the interests of the farmers themselves and of the countrv as a ' whole, that the farmers should be interested in the marketing of their produce," said Mr, Blyde.

Mr. Fraser's replies to the questions were described by Mr. Blyde as ' ' not nearly so satisfactory ". "In the first place I challenge his" stat.ement that the Government, with itsguaranteed prices, lias brouglit the dairy farmers to such a d.egreq of prosperity and economie security, " hi) said. t'lt has been made clear to us for years that the price paid to the dairy farmers was fixed in the main according to overseas realisations. Mr. Nasli told us 011 one occasion that if he paid us another lialfpenny a pound for butterfat for that season there was a danger of wrecking the guaranteed price schem.e. Therefore it js clear that' any additional price paid to us— and after all such additions have only beeu paid to meet increased costs — have been made possible by the prices paid' for our produce by the Britisli cqnsumer and taxpayer and no New Zealand Government can claim credit for that." Referring to other aspects of Mr. Fraser 's reply, Mr. Blyde said it soemed obvious that the Governineni which after all was to appoint the chairmen of both the proposed price tixing committee and marketing authoritv, would have the final say in what was deeided by those two bodies. ' ' We have had some exp.eri.ence in any case of th.e Conimittee's recommenda.tjons," Mr. Blyde continued, "and! i don.'t think many farmers would have" faith ih the justice that would be mef#.l out-.to. tliem-.by van - autho rit-y on -.whieV any Government has a preponderancc of voting strength. " Summing up his impressions of the replies from the party leaders, Mr. Blvde contended that Mr. Fraser \s answ.ers still left the final issue in doubt. On the other hand he found Mr. Holland', s reply definite and he would say ve ry sa t i sf ac t orv .