STABILISATION PLAN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 June 1943, Page 2

STABILISATION PLAN

FARMERS’ COSTS POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT. ITEMS ANNOUNCED. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. “The Prime Minister’s promise of December last, that the major items of farmers’ costs would be prevented from increasing. has been implemented by the Government under a plan to stabilise these main items at the level of December 15, 1942.” This announcement was made last night by the Minister in Charge of Stabilisation, Mr Sullivan, who gave a list of items contributing specifically to farm costs whose prices were now controlled under the stabilisation plan. ~ “Administrative action to hold the costs of items listed below has been under way for some months, so that prices actually being paid for these commodities are on the stabilised levels and lower than they would have been if the scheme had not been brought into operation.

LIST OF ITEMS. “The list is as follows:—Manures, including superphosphate, basic super-phosphate, blood and bone, burnt lime and carbonate of lime; spare parts for agricultural machinery, including parts for ploughs, discs, cultivators, harrows, manure and lime distributors, rollers, tractors, tractor tires and tubes, mowers’ sweeps, haylifts, balers, binders. header harvesters, strippers and threshing' mills; sacks, bailing wire (14 and 15 gauge), all barbed fencing wire, 8 and S' gauge fencing wire: wire netting of various sizes, fabricated fencing, wool packs, shearing machine parts, milking machine parts, separator parts, rubber ware for milking machines; stock foods, including barley, linseed meal and wheat meal (also known as. stock meal) : .dairy factory requisites, including butter boxes, cheese bandages, cheese caps, cheese crates, nails for boxes and crates, butter parchment, rennet, salt, scale boards, staples for crates, wire for crates: poultry foods, including fowl wheat, pollard and bran, barley, meal meal, an( f oyster shell fowl grit, straw and straw chaff; ceresan, agrosan, binder twine, seaming twine, cow covers, sheep dip, sheep-branding fluid, and rock salt. A FURTHER LIST.

“A further list effective from June 1 ineluded items which, in the main, but not entirely, concerned fruit-growers. The leason for’ this differentiation in date was that fruit-growers had already received incieased prices for main fruits to cover known increased costs of commodities entering m o the production of this season’s crops, me items in this second list were: Seeds, aisenate of lead, bluestone, cuprox, lime sulphur, colloidal sulphur, nicotine sulphate, spraying oil, fuel oil, hydrated lime, high-pressure spray hose, fruit cases, wrapping papei, case liners, case nails, spare parts of graders and spray pumps, nitrate of soda, sulphate*. o ammonia, potash, dried blood, bonedust..:' “It must be realised that stabilisation of the primary industries is only a though a most important part—of a staouisation scheme embracing the whole economic life of the Dominion,” said the Minister. “The general scheme provides that it the War-time Price Index shows an increase of 2‘Zi per cent, then the Arbitration Court will issue a general order increasing "wages. After (hat there is to be no adjustment, up cr down, unless the index reflects a movement of 5 per cent. The Government has undertaken that the principle underlying this shall be applied to the farming industry.’’