PRODUCERS PROBLEMTRICE FIXING”

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 47, 19 November 1926, Page 12

PRODUCERS PROBLEMTRICE FIXING”

Sir,—Lately there have been columns of the Press devoted mainly to the policy of the Dairy Board, especially on the question of “price fixing.” Curiously the bulk of the adverse criticism comes from that section of the community whose only interest in the producer is in exact ratio with what they can make out of his produce. As a great deal of misconception centres round that term, "price fixing,” I would like, for the information of my fellow producers, to ask those high commercial and financial pundits—who lecture the producer on the high price of his land, on his criminal extravagance in importing luxuries far exceeding in value his exports, and whose only panacea for the hardworking producer is more work—just to explain clearly what they mean by "price fixing..” Do they mean a "castiron rule,” ignoring economic facts, or do they mean the ordinary practice of the banker, the merchant, or the manufacturer who certainly “fix the price” of the commodities they deal in, based presumably on market conditions? If they mean the latter, then why should it be right for commercial men to fix the prices of the commodities they, deal in, but wrong for the primary producers to follow their example in dealing with their produce on similar business lines? I have watched the Dairy Control Board’s policy closely, and have A failed to discover any difference in the method of doing their business from that of their business competitors. I- am pleased to see the board had the backbone to ignore the attempted outside interference with what is purely a domestic concern of the board and which one can only look upon as a .piece of unparalleled impertinence.—l am, etc.,. GRIMSDALE ANDERSON. Pelorus, November 15, 1926.