MINISTERS HECKLED BY FARMERS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 48, 12 March 1937, Page 11

MINISTERS HECKLED BY FARMERS

Prices, Costs and Hours Discussed "HARDEST WORKERS" \ A mixed receptlon was accorded the Hon. W. Lee Martin, Minister of Agriculture, and the Hon. H. T. Armstrong, Minister of Labour, when they addressed a meeting of over 500 farmers at Pukekohe on Tuesday evening. The chairman, Mr A. White, was obliged to intervene owing to the frequent booing and interjections. The Minister 's reply to a demand by Mr J. H. Furiiiss, on behalf of the Farmer 's Union, that the price for dairy produce should compensate the farmers for the cost of production, was punctuated by frequent interjections. The Minister declared that for the iirst six nionths of this season the average payment 'for butter-fat had been 12.113d per lb., as against 11.71d for the lirst six months of last season. "I'll say this, and I'll give £5 to any institution you like to name to back it, that the New Zealand Co-oper-ative Dairy Company will pay out ld per lb. rnore for this season 's butter-fat, and I woul.dn't be surprised if it is 14d," Mr Martin said. An expert eommittee was charged with tabulating dairy costs to guide the Government in fixing the guaranteed price. To help them, dairy companies and dairy farmers were invited to send in their balance-sheets. Unfortunately the Government was not reCeiving the co-operation to which it was entitled in this regard. It had hoped to; annqunce the guaranteed price for next season in May, but it was now doubtful whether it would be known then owing to ' the delay in Teceiving the necessary ' details f rom the industry. "What About Costs?" The case for a higher payment for ihe farmers was expounded by Mr A. C. A. Sexton, M.P., who spoke after Mr Lee Martin. ' 1 The statements of Messrs Furniss and Sexton are bristling with inaccuracies and economic absurdities, and I am going to show the reason why," Mr Armstrong' declared. "Before we were returned to power dairy farmers through New Zealand told me they would be in clover if they got l'/~ a pound for butter — " Voices: . Yes, but what about the 40-hour week? The Minister said the price had been fixed at more than 1/-. A Voice: What about rising costs 1 You've been asleep. The Minister: Yes, and it's a pity you ever wake up. Mr Armstrong said , he looked upon farmers as among the hardest workers and the most exploited in New Zealand. Freezing Works Trauble This led to interjections about the stay-in hold-up at the freezing works, and a' very lively ihterlude, while the Minister explaiued his actions in sett« ling the trouble. "No teoction of tho community is going to take charge of other people 's property and remain in possession as loug as I am Minister of Labour," said Mr Armstrong. He emphasised that the payment of higher wages enabled the workers to pay high prices for the fanners' produce. "You can't liave an impoverished working class and a prosperous farming community," he continued. Laughter from some of "the audience greeted this statement. "Is the Minister going to tell the Geneva conference that one-third of the people of New Zealand are working a 60-hour week to keep another third on 40 hours, and the other third on sustenance?" was another question. Mr. Armstrong: The Minister is going to do at Geneva what he does here. He is going to tell the truth. -He will tell them where the 40-hour week applies, and possibly point out where it can be applied. Labour for Farms. Another questioner asked what the Minister proposed to do to enable farmers to compete for labour. t Tho Minister replied that it was his aim to ensure that the farmer was in roceipt of an income that would enable , him to pay wages on a par with those in other industries. A resolution, which Was carried by an overwhelming majority, requested that the farmers should be paid a price which would close the gap between the level at which they sold their produce and the costs tliey had to meet; enable them to pay attractivo rates of wages; and allow them reasonable iuterest on the capital invested in their farms and stock. Very strong exception was taken in another resolution to the remarks of Mr. W. H. Freeman, S.M., from * the Bench at Gore, that it was "all bunk" that farmers could not get labour. Tho resolution characterised this as a great miscarriage of justice, unprecedented in the history of the country, and urged that the Farmers' Union . should take the matter up with the j Minister of Justice. -