MEAT PRICE FIXATION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 September 1939, Page 3

MEAT PRICE FIXATION

OTAGO FARMERS’ PROTEST. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) DUNEDIN, September 11. There is not yet any definite information about the fate of the protest by the Master Butchers’ Association against official instructions that they cannot increase the retail prices to cover increased prices ruling recently for fat stock. ' The attitude of Otago farmers toward the suggested fixation of price is summed up in a telegram sent today by'Ahe president of the Otago Provincial Executive of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union, to the Minister of Industries and Commerce. It reads:— “Otago farmers emphatically protest against the manifest unfairness of the price fixation of meat, as war conditions are in no way responsible for the recent increase in fat stock prices. This is solely .due to the season’s climatic conditions and mainly to the effects of the recent prolonged and severe snow-storms on stock, and the fact that they caused very extensive wastage of winter feed. As a result farmers now have fewer fat stock to sell and, therefore, require greatly enhanced prices to compensate them for these heavy storm losses. I feel sure , the justification for this protest will appeal to you.”