'No undue hardship’

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33158, 23 February 1973, Page 10

' No undue hardship’

1 t He could understand: < ' the concern of the Gov- 1 | eminent at the impact of I, r ;such a large increase in h e| the spending power of [I -[farmers, Professor B. J.|j £ Ross, professor of agri-j! jcultural economics at h Lincoln College, said last! m evening in commenting on the Government’s [plan to siphon off a part; lof sheepfarmers’ incomes. But taking the over-all view the possible withdrawal! lof 12j per cent of gross pro-' ceeds from wool, meat and! stock, less the first $5OOO, as! proposed under the Government’s compulsory scheme, would not impose undue hardships on farmers, who had had a much larger percentage increase in the prices of these commodities over the last year. Nevertheless, with March 31 little more than a month away, this could cause liquidity problems for some farmers who balanced at this date and who had been endeavour- ! ing to minimise their tax liabilities. There was much deferred maintenance to be made up in the country as a result of the low incomes experienced [ jin the last five years and de-1 velopment expenditure had!

dropped to unacceptable! levels. Major increases in expen-' iditure by farmers were,' [therefore, to be welcomed,: [but with fertiliser, fencing; >and other supplying indus-1 ! tries in trouble meeting pre-I 'sent demands, this scheme of! [the Government seemed per-' Ifectly sound, said Professor' Ross. If the Government's proposal'was purely a reminder to farmers that the income equalisation scheme should be ;made use of and the terms of deposit would be the [same as under the present I scheme, then the New Zealand Sheep and Cattlemen’s Association would have no great objection, the South Island interim chairman of the association, Mr J. D. Mellraith, said. The same criteria should,

ihowever, surely be used for I every other sector of the' (country. His association would be :completely and absolutely op- ; posed to any suggestion of a roompulsory freeze on sheep- [ farmers’ incomes, said Mr (McUraith.