TOMATO DISPUTE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 198, 23 August 1939, Page 16

TOMATO DISPUTE.

£20,000 INVOLVED

SAUCE FACTORY SUPPLY

GROWERS' CONTRACT BASIS. Colli nu'ls invoking out £'Jn.l\iil) were tile cliliii'.f of ,1 il i-< |H1 (I• 1 ween Aim k-liiri-1 10-nalii ;Mit,\e|*s ami -.iii'*e inanillacl in ei V, ill. Ii was -el i l--,l \i-~ti-id.iy alter .1 ti.it liielit.'s negotiation-. The <|Ue-ti"li ill .Ii -|. 111 u f i, I lie plie,. ba-is lor e.. nil. I I, In Xl■ I ■ {11 V tomatoes to Ia el ill ie- 111 i I;;_i t lie couii ng a - on. The Ilia nut.let lirei - oll'ered 17 hi/ per ton. while l lie growers wanted j.!) i;/s per •on m ! ! per lb. With the mediation of tin Internal Marketing Division a compromise was eventually ctl'eeLed at i-K per toll. The whole business is rather unusual, for the contracts covering the supply of 2.i01) to 3000 tons of tomatoes are being let at present, although the fruit will not, lie ready for several months. r l lie plants are still in the seedling stage, yet the fruit they are expected to hear is already virtually sold. In December they will lie pouring into the factories, which will be working under pressure to cope with the work in hand.

When 1110 growers received offers of contracts nt £7 10/ a ton, a meeting was called by the Auckland Commercial (jardonors' Society, at which Captain A. A. Currey wan appointed growers' representative to negotiate with the coiiditnentors with a view to securing a better price. fJrowers complained that they wore working (it a peasant wage for the benefit of tb<? sauce manufacturers. Southern Prices Higher. In subsequent negotiations between Captain Currey and the eondimentors, Mr. Jf. FT. Tunes, of the Internal Marketing Division, and Mr. W. K. Dallas, of tho Horticulture Department, acted' as media tors. Captain Currey pointed out after the matter was finalised yesterday that there was still a disparity between local nnd southern prices, for growers in Lower TTutt, Christchurch ami Nelson received £!> (1/8 per ton for second-grade fi'uit only, while Auckland producers would now be paid £8 on contracts covering their entire crops. However, he added, the increase of 10/ a ton on the original offer of the condimeritors would mean an additional £12f>0 for local growers this season, and next year it was hoped that prices would return to the pro-depression level. During the depression the price had fallen from £t0 to £.1 10/ per ton, and had never ~fuUy recovered. Costa Investigated.

investigation of costs conducted during the negotiations by tlie fiovernment representatives had "revealed. said Captain Currey, that the grower received 4} per cent oti hjs capital and 1/10} per hour *n t.'hc best six months of the year for his labour. This applied to * the owner or to any workers he mitrht employ, and was based on a 44-hour week. Other sources of income had to bo found for the remaining six months of the year. With regard to the settlement of the dispute. Captain Currey stntcd that the new price agreed upon. £8 a ton would apply to all Auckland contracts, even where growers had already signed'contracts at the original figure of £7 10/ a ton. '