Magic sheep?

Press, 17 July 1979, Page 3

Magic sheep?

PA Wellington The Minister of Agriculture (Mr Maclntyre) has been asked by the Labour member of Parliament for Western Maori (Mr K. I’. Wetere) to explain how “more than four million extra sheep have suddenly appeared overnight in response to the Government’s special payment in last year’s Budget of 50c a head.”

Mr Wetere said that it now appeared that $2 million of taxpayers’ money had been paid out for sheep that existed only in farmers’ minds.

The Agricultural Review Committee had estimated New Zealand’s sheep flock last year at slightly more than 60 million, he said, but Mr MacIntyre had disclosed in Parliament recently that enough money was paid out for almost 65 million sheep.

“This is just as ludicrous as when the sheep retention scheme was first used by this Government a few years ago,” Mr Wetere said “At that time two million phantom sheep suddenly appeared to claim their grant per head. They then disappeared, not to be seen or heard of again. Now, somehow, they seem to have bred.” Mr Wetere said that once again the fallacy of trying to concentrate farm incentives on stock numbers, rather than on increasing quality, or production, had been shown. The system simply degraded the farming industry, did nothing for genuine development, and wasted taxpayers’ money.

“People cannot be expected to support agricultural development when they see this sort of thing going on,” he said.