MENACE OF INCREASING COSTS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 169, 4 August 1937, Page 7

MENACE OF INCREASING COSTS

-Freaa Aaspciation.l

Upsatisfactory Government Guarantee

( Bs felegraph-

; WELLINGTON, Last Night. "It is rather difficult to understand why the fruit industry, which admitte.dly ia uot in a prpsperous. co.nditipn, shpuld have been pickp.d out to be.ar higher wages and greate.r restrictions of hours than any othgr primary industry in New Zealand, ' ' sqid the ehuirman pf the New Zealand Fruit Export Control Board, Mr. H, E. Stephens, at the ahnual conference, to-day. Mr. Stephens said the export guarante.e for the, 1937 season had hgen inoreased by the Government from 10s to 10s. 6d per case, e.i.f., to enable tho growers to pay higher wages to their labqur. This aetipn applied qnly tq 30 per cent. qf t]ie crop wbich was exported frqm New Zealand althpugh the Qtbex 70 per eent. of the. erqp al.SQ had to bear the inerqasod charges. The Government, therefore, an.nounce.d that it would make avaiiable 4-10,000 as a subsidy on Igcally spld fruit provided the iucreased returns were not sufiicieut to meet the increased costs due to higher wages. The diflmulty in regard to this proviso was. that the grower had to meet the increased costs week by Week, and it wpuld be many months be^ fore he would kuow what ampunt, if . any, he was entitled tq reeeive from the £40,000. This form of g4arant.ee had not resulted in the employment of mere labQur as had been hoppd. The main person to benefit had been the small grower who empleyed little or no outside outside labour. There had heen an inoreasing amount of work done by wives and families on the prchard, and a vcry definite tendeney to restrict the amount pf fruit handled to what could be done by the family with the einplpymp.ut of tfie minimum amount of hired labour. It was also noticeable that maintenance work was not being kept up to stapdard owing to high wages. On the larger orchards mpre difficu% was being experienced, and owners were diflident "about investing further eapita! in them owing to fear of future legislation and the rising demands of laboqr unions. "Suoh measures as guarantee.ing priees, raising wages to increase the bnying capacity of workers and employing surplus labour on unre.productive Work would oqly temporarily relieye the position and a permanent cure can only be effegted by ratiQnalising primary production,"' said Mr. Stephens. "The real objective to be aimej at is to be abja to placp our praduets on the world 's markets at world market prices, so that the prodneer will be able to obtain a fair return fpr his labour. "If in trying to attain thjs ;t is found that the' return ig insufficiqnt to gjve all the. labour handling thq produce the high standard pf living fhat the Government desires, then it will be the Government's duty to find ways and means of making up the difference, or if saerifioes have to be made, the Government must sep that the hurden is borne equally. If hired labour is. tp be gua?r anteed a eprtain standard, thpu it ie equally desirable that t|e produce? and emplpyer of labour sheuid "be also guaranteed to the same extent.7 ' Mr. T. C. Brash, president of the New Zealand Fruitgrowers, Federation, said the increase' of the Government guarantee frpm 10s to 10s 6d had been a geu* crous gesture to meet the cost of higher wages fp.r the "4937 season, but it would UOt be adequate for the 1938 papking, Materials alpnq would be up in price by 6d a case, and growers would have to bear the burden of higher wages for the full year, which they had not had to do in 1937.