Levy on slaughtered stock

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33035, 30 September 1972, Page 3

Levy on slaughtered stock

Press Association} | WELLINGTON. September 29.1 Farmers will be required to pay a levy on stock they have slaughtered, under a bill intraduced to Parliament today. The Meat Amendment Bill j provides that these levies will be paid to Federated Farmers.; Introducing the bill, the 1 Minister of Agriculture (Mr I Carter) said the bill provided! for a proportion of meat in-1 spection fees to paid into a! special account, and to be; paid out to Federated i Farmers in such amounts as* he specified.

Mr Carter said the federation’s costs had increased, and there had been a decline in subscriptions as a result of amalgamations of farms. The Opposition claimed the bill was “worse than compulsory unionism.” Mr C. J. Moyle (Mangere) said he agreed Federated Farmers should have some financial support, as they had to supply members to 32 Government” or quasi-Government committees. But there might be some “backwoodsmen” who might want “to screw the Government’s tail” in the same manner they did with another measure. Mr Moyle was referring to modifications made to the Wool Marketing Corporation Bill which, the

Opposition claimed this morning, had been amended as the result of pressure by minority groups. Mr Moyle said these people were not members of Federated Farmers, yet were being compelled to pay a compulsory levy to Federated Farmers. In a way the bill was worse than compulsory unionism, Mr Moyle said, because at least people compelled to join a union had the right to vote in its affairs. Mr J. M. Rose (Nat., Otago Central) said the bill was not putting a levy on non-mem-bers for the first time, as a very large proportion of the money now available to Federated Farmers was provided by the producer boards. The

bill would make more money available to the boards. The Leader of the Opposition (Mr Kirk) said the bill was in complete defiance of everything the National Party said it stood for. It would compel people who did not support Federated Farmers to contribute towards the costs of running Federated Farmers. He asked if the Minister would authorise funds for Federated Farmers only for activities that satisfied the interests of the National Party. He sought an assurance that the Minister would not withhold money from Federated Farmers when it wanted to run a referendum on wool marketing. The Minister of Science (Mr Gandar) said the Wool Board, the Meat Board, and the Dairy Board contributed $60,000 or more each year to Federated Farmers. Mr Carter, in reply, said Federated Farmers represented the interests of all farmers. This levy was a contribution by farmers to their own welfare.