Call For Equal Burden

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31320, 16 March 1967, Page 1

Call For Equal Burden

The farmer should not be put into a better position than anyone else such as the freezing worker or the watersider, said the president of the Federation of Labour (Mr T. E. Skinner) in Latimer Square yesterday.

He said that if there was to be sacrifice it should be borne equally by all sections of the community.

Mr Skinner said that the Government subsidies removed amounted to £lli million for butter, wheat, flour, and bread. The Government had abolished the school milk scheme, saving itself £840,000. It was therefore collecting more than £l2 million more than was necessary unless rates of taxation were reduced. Mr Skinner said that the average increase for State Advances rentals and loans would be 7s a week for tenants of such houses. Speaking on the effect of the removal of food subsidies, Mr Skinner said that the Government had collected taxes to cover the estimated expenditure which included the cost of subsidies. Woman interjector: “I think I will go to Russia. I’d be better off.” Because of the unprofitable state of the butter market, the industry was drawing on the Reserve Bank for a payment of £35 for every ton of butter sold.

Mr Skinner said he thought the price on overseas markets would drop lower still. Every ton of butter produced in New Zealand had cost the New Zealand taxpayer £35 a ton.

The dairy farmer was paid £335 a ton, which was his guaranteed price for 12 months or more, even though we were getting something like only £3OO a ton for our butter.

The high price for the dairy farmer had been fixed at a time when export income was at its highest. Now that we were down to £3OO a ton, there had been no adjustment made to the farmer. Mr Skinner said we were not getting a further 6000 tons of butter to the United Kingdom; this was the increase in our quota. But this would cost the consumer a further £210,000 to subsidise the increased quota for Britain for butter that we were going to lose on.

“Where are w e going to from there?” said Mr Skinner.

Mr Skinner said that it was his view and the view of many others that we would be better to sell what wool we could and if necessary reimburse the grower in New Zealand currency.

“We would at least not have the loss of storage,” he said. “We would not have to find money for the unsold wool. We would be putting wool on the market at a price to compete with synthetics. We would have some increase in our overseas funds, and we would not be saddled with

thousands of bales of wool in storage costing 6d a bale.” Mr Skinner said that this wool would have to be sold sooner or later, and if the position worsened, then this wool would only cause a glut on the next season’s sales.

Mr Skinner said that the wool grower had invested £37 million in Government securities on long-term security. “Now he goes for the money, there is none there,’* said Mr Skinner. “You can’t run stabilisation like that. “Now we have to reimburse the wool grower from somewhere; either the Reserve Bank, or taxation, or from the people. Somewhere we have to find millions of pounds to pay the wool grower his guaranteed price. “If the Wool Commission bought 26 per cent of wool sales, that would cost the country £l2 million to be paid out to wool growers to give the guaranteed price pf 36d per lb. “This is the worst kind of inflation—to put £l2 million or more into circulation with no backing of services or goods.” “No Saving” Mr Skinner said the milk being produced in New Zealand was being consumed inNew Zealand. The country could not sell all the milk it produced. The abolition of free school milk would not save one more pound in overseas funds.

Visit To Camp.—The Minister of Defence (Mr Thompson) made his first visit to Linton Camp yesterday since he has taken office. —(P.A.)