IT'S NOT ARITHMETIC

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 205, 15 September 1937, Page 7

IT'S NOT ARITHMETIC

-PresS Association.)

Minister's Figures for th§ Dairy Guarantee EXPLANATION WANTED /

(By Telegraph-

WE-LL1NGTON, Last Night. Criticism of the figures taken by the Government ifl. calculating the production costs of dairy produce for the purpose of arriving at guaranteed priCes was offered to-day by Mr L. T. Daniell, a member of the Wairarapa executive of the Farmers' Union and formerly for many years a member of the "Wellington Land Board. "NW that the detailed figures havc be6n published the blunder becomes apparent," said Mr Daniell. "Mr Nash claims he has allowed 7d per lb of butterfat for labour and states this will yield the dairy farmer £1 a week plus £1 10s a week. It does not. It yields £3 a week plus house allowance of I8s, and is thua below the present -wage for evon unskillcd labour. "The figures published by the Minister are based on the Teport of the Dairy Industry Commission of 1934 plus some figures now in use by the Adjustment j Gourts iu dairying cases. In assessing the cost of production of 550 Nortli Island dairy farms from North Auckland to Wairarapa, the Dairy Commission stated the average butterfat proauced per labour unit to be 53801b. The Minister stated to a deputation that he has allowed 7d per lb. Can it be a mere coincidence that 5380 times 7d comes out at nearly £156, or £3 a tveek? "How the Minister magnificd thi3 £3 a wcek into £4 a week he might now explain to a befogged electorate. It might be costloss credit mathematics, but it is not arithmetie, So far as £78 a year for a house goes, an allowance for a house and pcrquisites of £47 has becomo the accepted standard in valuations for Adjustment Commissison work. The Minister has exaggerated this to £78. How and why, he might also explain. "The Minister is apparently sincsre in his intention that £5 10s a week should be accepted as the standard. If so will he immediately and officially notify the Adjustment Commissions to this effectf The crop of appeals may stagger eveii him. "The Minister 's gtatement at a recent Harbour Board moeting that the dairyfarmer was paid for every hour lie works appears to have been made under a genuine misapprehension as to how much he was paid. He should have explained that having taken a complete monopoly of both buying and selling New Zealand dairy produce he is allowing the kulaks £3 18s for a seven-day week. The basis of the trouble is that the committee to decide the guaranteou price was a Court of investigation with power to report only to the Minister and no power to make its findings public. Social justice will not bo accordcd the dairyfarmer until tho gnjaranteed priee is decided by an outspoken and impartial tribunal such as the Arbitration Court. A hand-picked politicalclerical committee must sull'er the iudignity of having its views pockcted by the Minister."