GUARANTEED PRICES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 June 1939, Page 9

GUARANTEED PRICES

PRIME MINISTER ATTACKS FARMERS’ LEADER UNION BUSY FIGHTING SHADOW. FAITH OF MANUFACTURERS CONTRASTED. CBv Telegraph—Press Association.) (By T g e jf RI P STCHURCH , June 2. “I cannot refrain from referring to the political leader of the non-poh-tical Farmers’ Union,” said the Prime Minister, Mr Savage, at the opening of a footwear factory at Woolston this afternoon. “He has been fighting guaranteed prices with his voice, when, with his tongue in his cheek, he has been perambulating up and down the country getting a guaranteed price of 5s 9d for his wheat.” There was no reason at all, said Mr Savage, why the great importance of the primary production of this country should be overlooked, but he sometimes wondered why it was so difficult to find out from their leaders just what tne farmers wanted. When the Government came into power it made certain offers to the farmers, and one of the results was the guaranteed price, which had been given to the dairy industry. A great deal of abuse nad been hurled at the scheme by officers of the Farmers’ Union, but none had come from the farmers’ themselves. “The Farmers’ Union recently has been busy fighting a shadow of some sort of guaranteed price for wool,” sa tfd Mr Savage. “Farmers must not think that this will be done at the muzzle of a rifle. If they want it themselves, and ask for it, that will be all right, but, if they don’t, that will be just another worry off our shoulders. “WILL PUBLISH ANYTHING.” “A great deal has been published, which has been alleged to be in the farmers’ name, against the guaranteed prices. In fact, the leaders will publish anything.” Mr Savage said that the attitude of the Farmers’ Union representatives was in striking contrast with the attitude of the Manufacturers’ Federation. “Manufacturers are not satisfied with everything we do,” he said, “but they are satisfied with the policy of the Government as a means to security for themselves.” “The organisation of manufacturing means much more than the carrying of resolutions. There are tremendous ramifications of which control of imports and exchange is just part. This control gives us an opportunity to select what we are going to import. There doesn’t seem to be anything unscientific about that.

“We are going to allot a certain proportion of the market to the manufacturer, so that he can see just what he has to do. It is like the primary producer —he is going to be given, in some respects, a guarantee. He will at least get protection from the effect of cheap labour overseas today. “We appreciate,’ more than I can say, the co-operation of the Manufacturers’ Federation and its branches throughout New Zealand.” APPEAL TO YOUNG MEN. His visits to factories in Christchurch, said the Prime Minister, had been a great inspiration to him. He appealed to young men not to be content with blind-alley occupations, but to get into jobs on a farm or in a workshop. There was ho reason why the population of New Zealand should not be multiplied five times at least. “There has been a lot of talk about the big bad wolf around the corner and about the country being bankrupt,” said Mr Savage. “When you people think you are bankrupt, then we are bankrupt, but the factories I have seen certainly don’t look like it. New Zealand is not bankrupt. More people are coming here every day from overseas, and that is not because the country is bankrupt, but because they can see opportunities here. I have greater confidence in New Zealand than ever, not only because of what I have seen, but because of conversations I have had with manufacturers, who have faith in themselves and in the future of New Zealand. They can take it from me, we are not going to let them down.