THE GUARANTEED PRICE

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 299, 14 September 1937, Page 10

THE GUARANTEED PRICE

It would seem that the Minister of Finance did not succeed in convincing the Farmers’ Union deputation, which waited on him last week, that the Guaranteed Price for dairy produce for the 1937-38 season was fair and equitable. On the question of working and maintenance costs Mr. Nash contended that the Government was giving more than the farmers’ representatives claimed. In order to reach this conclusion he must have read somewhat carelessly the suggestion put forward to the Guaranteed Price Committee by the Farmers Union. , It will be found quoted in our news columns to-day. The Farmers’ Union argued, as part of its case, that the estimate of production costs formed by the Dairy Commission in 1934 required to be adjusted in the light of the increased prices of 1936. Mr. Nash apparently in his interpretation of the farmers’ views paid no heed to this reservation regarding the increase in prices between 1934 and 1936, and so jumped to what is now pointed out to be the erroneous conclusion that the allowance fixed by the Government exceeded that asked for by the farmers representatives. The aspect of the matter, however, which at the moment is most difficult to explain away is the strange reluctance of the Government to give the dairy-farmers the information they are to nave regarding the findings of the Guaranteed Price Committee. I his com* mittce was set up to examine the whole position and to advise the Government as to the price to be paid. Ihe findings of this committee are of the .utmost importance to the whole of the dairying industry and to the general public. Presumably the committee reached conclusions and set out the reasons for those conclusions; but so far the Government has treated them as a State secret. Why should the dairy-fanners be kept in the dark on this vital question of the grounds on which the committee reached its decision as to the price which should be paid. Was the decision unanimous, or was there a conflict of opinion on the committee as to what constituted a fair price ? It is really difficult to understand how the Minister can seek to justify the withholding of this information, which, to say the least of it, is essential to a clear understanding of-the issues at stake.