REGULATION OF PRICES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 3 September 1942, Page 4

REGULATION OF PRICES

EFFECT ON NELSON GROWERS | The decision of the Price Tribunal to fix the maximum retail price of North Island and Nelsongrown early potatoes at 7d per lb this month has been generally accepted philosophically hv Nelson t growers. However some criticism of the decision was made to-day in i view of the fact that the Minister ! of Marketing had previously indicated that there would be a free ! market during September. I While pleased to benefit from the re- | cent market prices, which went as high ns Is 4d per lb., a number of growers ! j considered the price so high that the I Tribunal’s action was justified, but it ' i was suggested that in view of the ear I Her announcement, the Price Tribunal j ! might have allowed a higher return ' ; from early production by setting different price scales for the two fortj nightly periods in September. “PRICE RIDICULOUS” "Some of our recent shipments reaj li.«ed from Is 2d lo Is 4d per lb. on the Wellington markets.” said one grower ■ to-day. "We appreciated 11/*l 1 /* high return but knew the price was ridiculj ous. The cost of such potatoes to the ! consumer would be outrageous and no I average earner could buy them.” He said that s{d per lb. was the price on Tuesday in Wellington and the 4d and 4{d received locally was quite a satisfactory return. Last year his top price had been 7d per lb. and he considered that to be about the top limit that would be possible under any circumstances in September. He intended to continue digging his crop and sell on the present market rather than leave the potatoes in the ground until next month when the £3O to £33 per ton maximum puce would be in operation. ACTION JUSTIFIED "I think the Government was justified in taking action as the digging ol early crops now to secure the high prices would accentuate the shortage of supplies later on in the season,” commented another grower. He said he had been unlucky in that his first shipment went onto the market this week after the Price Tribunal's decision had been announced the return being 5d per lb. “I thought I was going to get in on the high prices but it didn’t comeoff,” he added. The same grower said he had about a ton of new potatoes he could have dug a bit earlier had he known the reduction was to be made. “The Minister had promised a free market up lo Ist October and the least the Price Tribunal should have done was to j grant separate maximum price scales for two fortnightly periods in September,” he said. However. 5d was a good ! average price in September and it was | unusual to get more. The Wellington market would be short of supplies this i month on account of the decision be~ ! cause growers would now allow' their ! crops to gain the advantage in weight by leaving them in the ground until October. SOME GROWERS STOP DIGGING “As a result of the Price Tribunal's decision a number of Nelson growers have stopped digging their early crops.” said another large grower. "A large proportion of the potatoes are at present immature and small and will nearly double in weight by next month.” He added that from a production point of view it was uneconomic to dig the potatoes when they were fairly small, and he thought that that aspect might have •had a bearing on the Tribunal’s decision. In the circumstances most growers would be satisfied with the new arrangement which would allow ; returns on a par with the prices usually realised at this time of the year. Questioned on the decision of the Tribunal to place Nelson-grown potatoes on the same fixed price basis <7d' as North Island potatoes the grower said that most of the early season production from the Nelson district went on to the Wellington market and he thought Nelson’s inclusion in the 7d maximum this month was reasonable. The fixed retail price for September for the South Island (except Nelson) was 7£d per lb. and he considered -the difference was justified in view of the fact that potatoes were much harder to produce early further south.