Angry Reaction By Farmers

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31500, 14 October 1967, Page 14

Angry Reaction By Farmers

(New Zealand Preet Association)

WELLINGTON, October 13, Federated Fanners spokesmen reacted angrily tonight to the Wool Commission’s decision to lower its average buy-in price at auction.

Mr M. Hewitt, Waikato president of the Federated Farmers, described the new price as a tragedy. He said it would result in the complete undermining of farmers’ confidence in the Wool Commission and in the political set-up which has led to the dropped price. By subsidising wool at auction by 39 per cent the commission was destroying any chance of seeking an alternative method for selling wool, he said. “The Government has allowed wool buyers to dictate the terms for Mies and has given them the right to set their own price level,” said Mr W. R. Martin. Auckland president of the federation. The Wanganui president (Mr B. S. Lilburn) said last night: “The farmers are supposed to receive a deficiency payment to cover the difference between 16} cents and 25 cents. This money can only come from either the taxpayer or the Reserve Bank. “If wool is not worth holding at 25c per lb. New Zealand might as well file bankruptcy here and now because it will go bankrupt anyhow.” “A GOOD JOB” But from Dunedin there was a different view. Mr C. R. McNab, the Otago president, said: “The Wool Commission has done a good job and we place our faith in them.” And from New Plymouth, Mr E. W. McCallum, president of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers, and a former Dominion president of Federated Farmers, said New Zealand could not go on missing out on overseas exchange by buying and holding its wool internally Indefinitely.

Mr N. O. Thomas, chairman

of the Auckland Woolbrokers’ Association, forecast that buyers would probably take most of the dip this season because of the lower floor price. “There is no question that the commission’s decision will result in much more wool flowing to the trade and this in itself will give a boost to the market and produce an atmosphere of confidence," Mr Thomas said. The commission had maintained the floor price so that farmers were no worse off, he yaid. In-Dunedin, the president of the New Zealand Woolbrokers’ Assodatlon, Mr R. A. Stokes, said personally he felt that the decision offered a compromise between low prices and the national interest of securing overseas income.