Farmers’ Poor Response To Wool Cheque Freeze

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30348, 25 January 1964, Page 16

Farmers’ Poor Response To Wool Cheque Freeze

(New Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND, January 24. There has been a poor response by Auckland farmers to the Government’s wool cheque freeze.

A number of leading Auckland woolbrokers said today that they had only a small number of farmers who had shown interest in having part of their wool cheque retained under the scheme.

One broker attributed that lack of interest to the fact that there was “not enough money” in the farmers’ accounts.

The Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake) today urged farmers who had sold wool before January 1 to advise their brokers or their bankers by next Friday if they wished to participate in the voluntary wool freeze scheme. “It has come to my notice that some growers are under some misunderstanding about the arrangement for the adjustment of balance in July and this has made them reluctant to take full advantage of the scheme,” said Mr Holyoake.

“Tliis misunderstanding possibly arose because the regulations enacted in December related essentially to payments into the scheme.” Mr Holyoake said that if growers felt they had frozen too much, during the month of July they could adjust their balances by taking out any part, or even the whole, of the previously frozen funds. Such repayments would be made on July 31 and, for tax purposes, the income would go back into the income year during which the wool was sold. He said legislation was to be enacted this year to cover this arrangement as well as the later release of funds. The legislation would allow growers to make one application a year in each of the three years beginning August, 1964. for the release of frozen funds. Each application must be for a minimum of £lOO, but a grower on his first or subsequent application may withdraw any larger sum up to the full amount of his frozen proceeds. There was to be the proviso that no

frozen money would be released unless it had been in the grower’s account for at least six months. “It is intended that the legislation would also provide that any funds remaining in wool retention accounts at the end of the three years, that is at the end of June, 1966, would be automatically repaid to growers at that time,” Mr Holyoake said.