GUARANTEED PRICE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 September 1938, Page 7

GUARANTEED PRICE

THE MINISTER’S ALTERATION OF STANDARDS VIEWS OF REPRESENTATIVE CONFERENCE FARMER LEFT TO CARRY RISING COSTS (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. The action of the Minister of Marketing, the Hon W. Nash, in altering the standards unanimously agreed upon by the Guaranteed Prices Advisory Committee in its computation of the guaranteed price recommended for dairy produce for the 1938-39 season, was criticised at a conference held in Wellington yesterday of representatives of the principal organisation associated with the dairying industry. A statement issued at the conclusion cf the meeting states that the conference doubted the ability of the Minister to discover in an arbitrary manner new standards more accurate than those recorded by the Advisory Committee. It was stated that the conference was forced to the conclusion that the Minister simply made up his mind as to the price he was prepared to pay to the industry, and then adjusted his standards accordingly. The price which the Government had decided to pay to the dairy-farmer this year was obviously based, not on the principles laid down in the Primary Products Marketing , Act, but upon a figure which must have been arrived at mainly on a consideration of market realisations, leaving the farmer to carry the steadily-increasing burden of costs. The conference regarded the standards arrived at by the committee as the absolute minimum which should determine the price to be paid under present conditions. The conference was convened by the Dairy Board to consider the report of the Guaranteed Prices Advisory Committee and the decisions reached by the Government in connection with the report.' It was attended by the following: Dairy Board, Messrs W. E. Hale (chairman), J. Dunlop, A. Linton and C. Marchant; National Dairy Federation, Messrs A. Morton (president), W. Marshall and A. J. Sinclair; South Island Dairy Association, Messrs H. H. Meredith (president) and G. Herron; New Zealand Farmers’ Union, Mr W. W. Mulholland (Dominion president); Mr C. P. Agar, managing director, Tai Tapu Dairy Co; the secretary of the Dairy Board, Mr T. C. Brash; the secretary of the National Dairy Federation, Mr L. O. Benseman. Both Mr Agar and Mr Marshall were members of the Guaranteed Prices Advisory Committee which recommended higher prices than those fixed by the Government. After thoroughly traversing the report and the salient points of evidence, the conference recorded its deep appreciation of the very thorough manner in which the investigations had been carried out, and endorsed the standards arrived at unanimously by the committee. The conference regarded these standards as the absolute minimum which should determine the price to be paid to dairy-farmers under present conditions. In the course of an extended statement the conference drew the attention of the industry and the Government to the fact that the basis of standards as altered by the Minister meant that where a farmer hired labour, the greater proportion of the price increase would go to the employee. The statement concludes:—“The Minister has frequently referred to the guaranteed price scheme as a means of securing for the dairy-farmer an income commensurate with the time, energy, skill and experience expended bv him He has stated that the mam purpose of the scheme was to solve the economic problems of the dairyfarmer, but in the opinion of the conference this has not been achieved. “The price which the Government has decided to pay to the dairy-farmer this year is obviously based, not on tne principles laid down in the Primary Products Marketing Act, but upon a figure which must have been arrived at mainly on a consideration of market realisations, leaving the farmer to carry the steadily increasing burden oi costs.”