PRICE FREEZE ADVOCATED

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31519, 6 November 1967, Page 26

PRICE FREEZE ADVOCATED

(New Zealand Press Association) WHAKATANE, November 5. The Government should immediately declare a policy of holding down incomes and prices, the chairman of the Dairy Board (Sir Andrew Linton) said yesterday, urging that all sections of the community and leaders of public opinion should support such a move.

In his address at Edgecumbe, near Whakatane, he said that without a policy of this kind the primary exporting industries would be stretched beyond their limit by declining prices on the one hand and rising costs on the other. Sir Andrew Linton stressed the need for all New Zealanders to work together to hold down costs by reasonable wage restraint and increased manpower efficiency. “Unfortunately,” he said, “there are still those who fail to grasp the fact that the state of our national economy depends on the actions of all of us. We are still being burdened in some instances with unwarranted price increases or with salary and wage rises in excess of cost of living increases.” Th. dairy industry was making every effort to improve its efficiency, both at farm and factory level, and thus keep down costs, Sir Andrew Linton said. Its objective was to continue to compete on world markets at the lower prices now being forced on the New Zealand dairy farmer by subsidised overseas farming industries. “If we succeed, as we have done so far, we will hold our own place in these markets and the dairy industry will remain viable,” the Dairy Board chairman said. “It will continue to expand and thereby increase its contribution to our national export income. “But if there is no restraint

on costs, any saving achieved by the dairy industry will be absorbed in this country and this will severely lessen our ability to compete on overseas markets. This applies to all exporters in this country.” Restraints on Incomes and prices must be observed by everyone, Sir Andrew Linton said. If one section acted without thought for others and boosted costs it would merely place an added burden on the remainder of the community and induce them to seek price or income increases.