GUARANTEED PRICES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 August 1938, Page 6

GUARANTEED PRICES

RELEASE OF LAST YEAR’S REPORTS STATEMENT 3Y MINISTER OF MARKETING. MAJORITY AND MINORITY VIEWS. ■ The Minister of Marketing (the Hon W. Nash) has made available for publication the report of the Advisory Committee set up by the Government in September, 1936, to inquire into and make recommendations as to the guaranteed prices to be paid for export butter and cheese for the Reason 1937-38. In an accompanying statement, Mr Nash reviewed the constitution of the committee, saying that as the committee was set up by the Government and for the sole purpose of advising and making recommendations to the Government, it was thought that it might be regarded as unfair to the members if details of the specific finding on which they were unable to agree were made public. There was also the consideration that the Government itself had assumed the responsibility for fixing the prices to be paid. As was now generally known, the committee was unable to arrive at a unanimous recommendation as to prices: in fact, three separate recommendations were submitted. UNANIMITY ON'SOME POINTS. - “Each was supported by reasons in its favour,” Mr Nash observed, “and I am perfectly satisfied that each section of the committee honestly and in all good faith was convinced of the soundness of its position. The fact that on many important points the. members were unanimous, and that on a number of other points eight out of the ten members wefe in agreement, is eloquent proof of the earnest desire of all the members to assist the Govrnment and the industry by endeavouring to attain unanimity wherever possible. “As a matter of fact, the recommendations of the three sections of the Committee as to the basic guaranteed price of butter varied within a very narrow margin. Five members recommended 13.16 d per lb,, three recommended 13.57 d per lb., and two recommended 13.81 d per lb. There was less than two-thirds of a penny between the highest figure and. tne lowest figure. GOVERNMENT’S DECISION. “The Government did not adopt any one of the prices recommended, but decided to fix a middle price'of 13.25 d per lb. “In its essentials, the committee was a departmental committee, with a number of co-opted members added. There is nothing unusual—in fact, it is the regular practice—to regard the reports and recommendations of such committees as confidential, for they are obtained only for the guidance of me Government. A tribunal set up to make a final and binding decision is in an entirely different category. In the circumstances that I have outlined, and bearing in mind the purpose for which, and the manner in. which, the committee was set up, can it be fairly said that the Government acted improperly in treating this/particular report as confidential, more'especially when its publication would involve tne exposure of the views and reasons of individual members, honestly and fairly Stated, to criticism and make them the subject of political controversy? I think not. OBJECTIONS SET ASIDE. “However, the Government has now decided that, with the passage of time, the objections to the publication of the full report have become less weightythan they were some months ago. I understand, too, that the members of the committee offer no opposition to its publication. “I am therefore handing to the press for publication the official report of my address to the committee on the day on which it commenced its deliberations. I referred therein to the order of reference, which was, as it' will be for the committee set up for the ensuing season, subsections (4) and (5) of section 20 of The Primary Products Marketing Act, 1936. “I am also making available the interim report of the committee, which was forwarded to the Government on April 19, 1937... “I am now handing to the press for publication the full text of the final report of the committee.. This report is handed over without any further comment or explanation, for I think that what I have already said will make the Government’s attitude in the matter perfectly clear. “Within the last few weeks,” concluded Mr Nash, “the Government announced that, because of the increase in farm costs and because of other difficulties with which dairy farmers had been faced during the present season, it would increase, for the whole manufacturing season 1937-38, the guaranteed prices fixed by it for export butter and cheese by .41 d and .21 d per lb respectively, and would provide for the payment of similar increases in respect of butter and cheese sold for local consumption. These additional payments are approximately equivalent to a further payment to suppliers for butterfat of Jd per lb for the season.” PRICE DETAILS MAJORITY AND MINORITY 1 RECOMMENDATITONS. The final report of the Guaranteed Prices Advisory Committee 1936-37, a lengthy document of 27 foolscap pages, apart from several pages of appendices discusses in considerable detail the cost and working operation of the dairy industry. It includes two minority reports, A and B by groups of members dissenting in some degree from the conclusions stated in the majority report. The personnel of the committee as set up by the Government was: —The hon. Sil - Francis Frazer (chairman), Deputy-Chairman, Executive Commission of Agriculture; Messrs G. A. Duncan, Acting-Director of Marketing and member of the Executive Commission of Agriculture; David Jones, member of the Executive, Commission of Agriculture; J. Dunlop, representative of southern ward on the N.Z. Dairy Board; W. E. Hale, representative of N.Z. Co-op. Dairy Co., on the N.Z. Dairy Board; A. Morton, president of the National Dairy Association; N. H. Moss, barrister and solicitor, Stratford; B. Roberts, IVj.P., dairy farmer and late

chairman of directors of Parkvale Dairy Co.; A. J. Sinclair, SecretaryManager of the Te Awamutu Dairy Co.; D. O. Williams, late Lecturer in Economics at Massey Agricultural College and director of the Bank of New Zealand. The signatories of the majority report were:—Sir Francis Frazer (chairman), Messrs G. A. Duncan, David Jones, N. H. Moss and D. O. Williams. The minority report A was signed by Messrs A. Morton, B. Roberts, M.P.. and A. J. Sinclair. The minority report B was signed by Messrs J. Dunlop and W. E. Hale. The recommendations made by the three sections of the committee —the majority, minority A and minority B are set out in the following table: — Costs Maj. Min. Min.

F. 0.8. basic purchase price equivalent for cheese 7.5' 7.7 7.82 The report stated that if the same average market prices were received as in the preceding season, the estimated approximate deficits under the several recommendations would be: — , £ Majority 1,750,000 Minority A 2,500,000 Minority B .... '.... ' 3,000,000 The committed drew attention to the fact that in terms of butterfat the difference between the lowest and the highest recommended basic„f.o.b. purchase price was only ,79d per lb., or .65d per lb. of butter, although, as the hypothetical deficits indicated, this difference when applied to the whole industry represented a large sum of money. .

A. . B. Pei’ lb. butterfat for butter. . d. d. d. Working and Maintenance costs 4; 5.07 5.07 5.07 Interest charges 3.00 3.06 3.06 Labour Reward 7.18 7.68 ——• —— 15.31 15.81 —•y Less pigs 1.54 1.54 Butterfat price for butter 13.77 14.27 14.56 P.O.B. basic purchase price equivalent per lb. of butterfat 13.16 13.57 13.81 Butterfat price for cheese 15.77 16.27 16.56