DAIRY FARMERS CRUCIFIED

Chronicle (Levin), 26 November 1946, Page 8

DAIRY FARMERS CRUCIFIED

MR. NASH'S TREATMENT : ^ ' T "Not only has Mr. Nash crucifibd the dairy farmers, but he has also injured the general prosperity by his treatment of the guaranteed price," said the National candidate for Otaki, Mr. J. J. Maher, speaking to a large audience in Otaki last night. "Aceording to the 1945 year book, at page 660, there were 1,807,377 dairy cows in milk in 1935 and only 1,647,920 in 1944. I believe that the number is still lower in 1946. There has been a great fall in cow population under Labour misrule. It is the more striking because before 1935 the cow population had almost continually increased each year. It increased from 890,220 in 1921 to 1,827,962 in 1935. The fall in cow population since Labour came into power is due to Labour's crucifying the dairy farmer with 'high costs and low prices. "In 1938 Mr. Nash set up a Commission to ascertain the cost of producing butterfat. He appointed a majority of the members, including the chairman. That Commission furnished a unanimous report on the cost of producing butterfat. What did Mr. Nash do? He claimed he knew more than the experts, and he reduced the price by 7-8ths of a penny a lb butterfat. By so doing he robbed the dairy farmers of £1,500,000 a year. Not only did he rob the farmers of that amount — he robbed New Zealand of that sum, because in 1939 when. war broke out England fixed the price of our dairy produce ofi the costs of production, and Mr. Nash was held down to his own figure, whiclr was, as I have said, 7-8ths of a penny below the proved costs of production." ,