BUYERS OF PIGS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 62, 14 March 1944, Page 2

BUYERS OF PIGS

HOW MANY NEEDED?

A SURVEY SUGGESTED

"What do you need pig buyers for? The whole of the output goes to the Government," said Mr. F. J. Cox, Crown representative, when Mr. A. Miller, supervisor of the stock department of W. and R. Fletcher, Limited, appeared before the No. 1 Armed Forces Appeal Board this morning in support of an appeal for I the> exemption of Hugh Thornton ! Hamilton, stock buyer, from military ! service.

The reservist, said Mr. Miller, was engaged in pig buying. It was necessary to have special men for this. "What we have been concerned about," said Mr. A. M. Samuel, a member of the board, is that there is so much overlapping, but we don't know how it can be overcome. It is the competitive aspect that concerns the board."

Mr. Miller: This has been discussed among ourselves, but we have never got anywhere with it. The chairman, Mr. C. R. Orr Walker, S.M.: The question is whether we can ration the pig buyers.

In answer to the chairman, Mr. Miller said there were about 100 pig buyers in the Auckland province. The Chairman: Could not SO do the work?

Mr. Miller thought that this might be possible if a committee were set up to investigate the position. The Chairman: There should be some way of finding out how many are categoi-y A men, how many are single, and how many are under the age of 35 or thereabouts. The reservist, said the chairman, was 35, and a married man with one child.

The appeal was adjourned sine die, the chairman indicating that, in the meantime, the Department of Agriculture in Wellington would be asked to obtain particulars regarding the men engaged in pig buying.