DAIRY FARMERS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 July 1939, Page 6

DAIRY FARMERS

STATEMENT OF OPINION WANTED OM THE GUARANTEED PRICE POLICY. PRIME MINISTER REPLIES TO MR MULHOLLAND. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. ' Replying today- to the statement of the Dominion President of the Farmers’ Union (Mr W. W. Mulholland) concerning the guaranteed price, the Prime Minister (Mr Savage) emphasised, that, his main object was to learn from dairy farmers themselves whether they wanted to scrap the Government’s marketing and guaranteed price policy. If their attitude represented a genuine attempt to release dairy farmers from the policy put into operation as a means of helping them to be free from the vagaries of the overseas market, it was obvious that the Government must take notice of it and seek to learn the minds of the farmers on the matter.

Mr Savage described as a complete somersault Mr Mulholland’s statement that the Government deserved well of the industry for the energetic manner in which it had established a marketing organisation in London. He dealt also with the “cool assumption” by Mr Mulholland that it was intended to hand over to the industry all the present facilities for organised marketing to a few private individuals. Again assuring the farmers of his deep interest in their, welfare,, and his desire to have from them a first-hand and clear statement whether they, thought the present marketing system, with guaranteed prices, was an improvement on the old order, of things, Mr Savage said the present dairying season would probably end with the farmers getting an aggregate o’f about two million pounds more than they .would have received if Mr Mulholland, had been successful with his propaganda against the Government’s policy.