CASE FOR MERCHANTS

Waikato Times, Volume 129, Issue 21583, 20 November 1941, Page 7

CASE FOR MERCHANTS

VEGETABLE TRICES INQUIRY PRODUCTION PROPOSALS Py Telegraph - Press Association) WELLINGTON, Wednesday 'The case for the auctioneer.- and merchants was presented to the Price Tribunal today at the inquiry into the price of vegetables. “No Government, merchants or growers’ organisation could have seen in sufficient time the development of the present situation and so have appreciably altered it.” said Mr Arundel Turner, of Auckland, on behalf of the New Zealand Fruit Merchants and Auctioneers’ Federation. Mr Turner suggested that consideration of the following points would assist in overcoming similar future difficulties: The making available of frequent and accurate information of plantings and intended plantings, with comparative figures for the previous year; the making available of adequate supplies of suitable manures: provision for suitable labour: intensified research into plant disease and pest control as ! affecting vegetal les: importation and distribution of suitable seeds: where necessary to implement labour, the provision of light farm machinery. “Dig For Victory” Effect Mr A. Jacobs, president of the federation, said it was uneconomic prices in one season which led to a shortage and high prices in succeeding years The “dig for victory” campaign in 1940 had this effect. Suburban gardeners responded to the appeal to such an extent that during the height of the season many lines could hardly be given away, and the loss to producers was serious. Commercial growers, unable to judge whether this camapign would be repeated, were probably conservative

in their plantings of vegetables which could readily be grown by the suburban gardener. The auction system had stood the test of years. Charges now made for selling were exactly the same as in 1936, in spite of many increases in costs.