GUARANTEED PRICES.

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20258, 29 July 1937, Page 8

GUARANTEED PRICES.

It seems probable that the prices to be paid for dairy produce in the production year that will start on Sunday will not be announced until the Minister of Marketing returns to the Dominion. Mr Nash should reach Auckland on August 12, and the report of the Price Committee should be in the hands of the Ministry by August 5 or 6. Last year the prices were mentioned in the Budget, which was brought down on August 4, but it is not likely that the Government will compel producers to wait until the production of the Financial Statement this year. The prolonged absence of the Minister of Finance from the Dominion will have made it impossible for the Budget to be ready for at least some weeks after the opening of the session. Unlike many official documents the Statement must be almost entirely the work of the Minister, although much of the data can bo prepared by Treasury officials and others. Then the Budget must outline the second stage of the financial policy of the Government, and that will require careful consideration.

It would be unreasonable to expect the producers to wait indefinitely for information vital to their interests. No one cares to work without knowing what return he will receive, and the primary producers would never agree to have some weeks pass without being informed of the prices at which the Government intends to take over their produce, but probably most of them will admit that the circumstances this year are exceptional. The decisions to be made directly affect the two most important portfolios that Mr Nash holds, Finance and Marketing, and his colleagues will be anxious to have his views on the matter of prices before making any final decision. It may be possible to have a special statement made as soon as the Minister has had an opportunity to examine the reports and the figures of the Dairy Industry Account, although the latter do not really enter into the matter. There has been the plainest promise possible that, in the event of a deficit, it will not be a liability of the industry but of the State. The basis of prices for the first year was purely temporary, and something in the nature of an experiment.

The annual meetings of dairy companies have shown how general is the anxiety with regard to provision for meeting rising costs. Action was promised during the first year if they moved unduly, but nothing was done. The aggregate payments by the companies do not constitute the last word in the matter by any means. Costs are divided —those of the factories and those of the farms—and if payments nre taken to show that the companies have worked within the estimates it must still be proved that the payments have been sufficient not only to meet increased costs on the farms but also to ensure for the producers that standard of living mentioned by the Minister of Marketing and stated in the Act. The estimates, from more than one quarter, of increased production costs have given the men on the land something on which to work, and it will be for the authorities, when they announce the prices, to give the detailed information as 'to how they were reached and the allowances made for the various factors that, in what is expected to be the permanent system, will govern prices from time to time.

This is what makes the coming announcement of such great importance, and the Government will realise that there should be the minimum of delay in letting the producers know exactly where they stand in connection with guaranteed prices for the coming year.