PROTEST BY FARMERS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20040, 12 September 1939, Page 9

PROTEST BY FARMERS

MEAT PRICE FIXATION RISE NOT DUE TO WAR SEASONAL CONDITIONS (Per Pross Association.) DUNEDIN, this day. There is not yet any definite information concerning the fate of the protest by the Master Butchers’ Association against the official instructions that they cannot increase retail prices to cover the increased prices ruling recently for fat stock.

The attitude of Otago farmers toward the suggested fixation of the price is summed up in a telegram sent yesterday by the president of the Otago provincial executive of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union to the Minister of Industries and Commerce, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan. It reads as follows: “Otago farmers emphatically protest against the manifest unfairness of the price fixation of meat, as the war conditions are in no way responsible for the recent increases in fat stock prices. This is solely due to the season’s climatic conditions and mainly to the effects of the recent prolonged and severe snowstorms on stock, and the fact that they have caused very extensive wastage of winter feed. As a result, farmers now have fewer fat stock to sell and, therefore, require greatly-enhanced prices to compensate them for these heavy storm losses. I feel sure the justification for this protest will appeal to you.”