GUARANTEE IS FIXED, COSTS ARE NOT

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 207, 17 September 1937, Page 9

GUARANTEE IS FIXED, COSTS ARE NOT

Our Own

Dairyman Would Have To Me.et Any Increase WHAT HE WOULD EARN AT 2/9 AN HOUR

( UTom

Correspondeiit.. )

PALAIEHSTON X., Last Niglit. Guaranteed prices, the subject of tho moment for dairy farmers, was referred to by Mr. C. A. L. Treadwell, of Wellington, when spcaking in the interests of the National Party in Feilding last evening. Tho speaker made four points. (Ij The Government would not release tho reports of the investigatiou committee on tho guaranteed price. However tlrn Government said it aceepted full responsibility for the price fixed and would release a statement showing how the price was mado up, giving particulars of each itenn There were three reports; the Government took the lowest of the three. (2J The costs for eheese manufactun. were estimated for 1936-37 at 2.7;j pence per lb, of butterfat, but the average for the Dominion worked out at 3.2;; pence, and that is the amount alloweu for in the present season. It would appear then that there is no allowance made for increasing factory costs for this season and if costs do increase, payment for these increases must come out of the farmers' share. (3) Living expenses for the farmer have been allowed for at the rate of £4 per week, plus an estimate of' £1 10s for house and food grown on the farm, a weekly total of £5 10s. This figure should be compared with the rates of pay in unskilled and skilled industries on the 40 or 44 hour week. Mr. Treadwell drew attention to the following facts: (a) Yearly pay for the dairyfarmer, £208 plus house, etc.; (b) yearly pay for manager 100 ton cheese factory (Southland), £273 plus house, etc.; (c) yearly pay for manager of 400 ton cheese factory (Southland), £438 plus house, etc. According to the recent decision of the Arbitration Court skilied workers are to be paid at the rate of 2s 9d an hour. If a dalryfarmer were to be paid at this rate, then for only 60 hours per week, without any overtime rate, the farmer would get £8 5s per ■week. (4) Aithough the price has been fixed for the season, costs are not fixed. Therefore, any increase in costs, whether on the farm or in the factory, must come out of the farmers' share. Graduated Land Tax. Another injustice to the farmer was the iniquitous graduated land tax which outraged the decent principlcs of taxation, which was, that taxation should bc bascd on tho ability of tho taxed to pay. Graduated land tax bore no relation to the widely erratic and unequal as between one man and another and between producers and owners in equal financia! positions. It seemed clear that the Government was hent on eliminating „the small farmer and the small dalry factory. That fact was shown hy a niunher of the small but highly efficient dairy factories having to close down. They were co-operative concerns and had they not been efficient they would not have carried on and contributed to the prosperity of their districts for as many years as they had. Under present conditions the small man must go out and the Government would view his dostruction with equanimity because when the time came for a general regimentation of industry to take place (and several socialist M.P's j had announced that was their aim), it | would be easier to deal with a f ew large j concerns than with a large number of small ones who had a much greater voting power. The small man was not i only an asset to a country — he was one of its greatest bulwarks. Certain typos of land in New Zealand could only be farmcd in large holdings and the large farmer was fulfilling a necessary place in the country 's ecouomic schemej but the small dairy farmer also had an iinportant place and deserved to be fully protected. Agriculture was the basic industry of this country and practically overy man engaged in any occupation in the Dominion was dependent directly or indirectlv upon the farmer for his means of livelihocd.