THE AGRICULTURE COMMISSION

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21384, 29 January 1935, Page 11

THE AGRICULTURE COMMISSION

Deputy-Chairman's Salary WORK OF MR D. JONES IN LONDON [THE PRESS Special Service.] WELLINGTON, January 27. Though no official announcement has yet been made, it can be said that the salaries of the members of the Executive Commission of Agriculture will be comparatively substantial. The remuneration of Mr Justice Frazer as deputy-chairman will be that statutorily fixed for his position as judicial president of the Arbitration Court, £2OOI a year. There will, of course, be a difference between that amount and the salary of each of the two other members— Mr David Jones (chairman of the New Zealand Meat Producers' Board) and Mr G. A. Duncan (secretary of the Hawera Dairy Company); but the gajs will .not be so very wide, since all the paid members of the commission will be engaged on a full-time task. It appears to be certain that these two members will be paid £ 1500 a year each.

Chairman's Honorarium The statutory chairman of the commission, the Minister for Agriculture (the Hon. C. E. Macmillan), will receive only the standard ministerial honorarium, which, allowing for economy cuts and the recent restorative adjustment, is a very great deal less than £ISOO a year. Under the provisions of the Agriculture (Emergency Powers) Act, the non-political members of the commission may hold office for a period of five years, and may be removed from office only for inefficiency, disability, insolvency, neglect of duty, or misconduct proved to the satisfaction of the Governor-General. Any member, of course, may resign his office. The main functions of the commission are these:—To co-ordinate the work of the several boards and other authorities exercising powers concerning any of the primary products of the Dominion, and to make such recommendations to the Government as the commission thinks proper, with a view to the making of regulations in relation to the production, handling, marketing, or export of primary products. Commission's Duties The commission probably will begin its duties about the middle of next month, though for a period these duties necessarily will be of a preliminary nature. Mr Jones is in London taking part with the High Commissioner (Sir James Parr) in conferences with representatives of the British Government about meat quotas and other threatened restrictions on the export of New Zealand farm products to the United Kingdom. Mr Jones, who is acquiring first-hand information as to British I policy and marketing prospects I which will be of great value to the Executive Commission of Agriculture, is expected to leave London for New Zealand at the end of this month or early in February. Arrangements for office" accommodation in Wellington and a secretarial service for the commission have not been completed, but negotiations for suitable premises are going forward. Several suites of offices are under offer, but it is anticipated that accommodation will be secured in the Dominion Farmers' Building. There is keen interest among departmental officers in the prospective appointment of a secretary for the commission. Several names are being mentioned, but so far nothing definite has been done.