FARMING AFFAIRS

Lake County Mail, Issue 25, 12 November 1947, Page 8

FARMING AFFAIRS

This column is supplied weekly by Federated Fanners of New Zealand]. The information given is official but any views expressed are those of the federation and are not necessarily those of this newspaper. THE FEDERATION AND SUBSIDIES The suggestion that Federated Farmers agreed to the cancellation of the lime subsidy has been re- ' futed by the head office of the federation. The first knowledge Federated Farmers had of any proposed alteration in the payment of subsidies was when Mr Nash made a statement on August 9. The subsidies have been paid under a stabilisation agreement made by the Farmers’ Federation with the Government on June IS, 1943, and until Mr Nash made his statement on August 9, Federated Farmers, as the successor -to the Farmers’ Federation, had been given no indication that the payments would be stopped. Mr Nash said that “ farm subsidies, with minor exceptions, would be cancelled from agreed dates and compensatory adjustments would be made in the price paid for the products concerned.” Twelve days later the Minister, when presenting his Budget to the House, said that “ the whole procedure had been agreed in principle with representatives of the major exporting industries.” On August 22, Federated Farmers received a letter from the Minister of Finance setting out in detail the farm subsidies which the Government intended to cancel. Subsidies Not Discussed At no time was the cancellation of subsidies discussed by the federation with the Government nor was it offered by the Government any opportunity to do so. That was a distinct breach of the stabilisation agreement made by the federation with the Government, claims the federation. After the agreement had been reached a letter had been received from the then Minister of Industries and Commerce, Mr T>. G. Sullivan, indicating that the Government agreed to afford opportunities for the federation to be represented at all discussions regarding the termination or alteration of the stabilisation agreement. As the Government had committed a breach of the original stabilisation agreement, the federation claims that the agreement was thereby discharged and Federated Farmers arc no longer bound by the clause which enabled the Government to appropriate the annual lump sum payments of £4,000.000 sterling for the redemption of loans in the United Kingdom. The last annual lump sum payment of £4,000,000, which payments finish in 1948, could be earmarked to pay the lime subsidy for many years. It has also been pointed out that no mention was made of that sum in the Budget for 1947, although the use to which previous sums had been put had always been disclosed in previous budgets. Over £2 a Ton Before the cancellation of subsidies it cost a farmer, who railed his lime 100 miles and carted it six miles, £1 14s per ton.’ To-day it costs him £2 9s 2d. As another example before the cancellation of subsidies it cost a farmer who railed his lime 100 miles and carted it 50 miles, £3 13s per ton; to-day it is £4 8s 2d. The lime itself costs ISs per ton, plus 0s per ton for bags, so this second example means that a farmer who buys his limfe for £1 4s in bags will spend £3 4s 2d or more than two and a-half times the coat of the lime, to transport it to his farm and put it, on the land. The average cost of lime has been assessed at 18s per ton but in fact it will rise in sympathy with increases in wages and other costs. Railage rates vary from 2s 5d per ton for one mile to 12s 2d per ton for 10D miles, oartage ratea vary between provinces. In Taranaki the cartage rate per toa

Tor five miles is 6s 3d, and for 50 miles £1 19s. In northern Hawke’s Bay the figures are 7s lOd per ton for five miles, and £'2 9s dd far 50 miles. The federation points out also that the cancellation of the lime subsidy would have a disastrous effect on the lime industry if farmers continued to cancel their lime orders. Federated Farmers asked that the Government should implement the recommendations of the Lime Investigational Committee, which provided that the 100 miles free railage subsidy should be abolished and replaced by a subsidy of 75 per cent, on all rail freights, plus 60 per cent, of the actual cost of other transport and the subsidy, being a matter of national importance should be a charge on the Consolidated Fund.