THE FINAL SAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 148, 25 June 1938, Page 10

THE FINAL SAY

GUARANTEED PRICE

DESIRE OF INDUSTRY GOVERNMENT'S TASK Commenting again last evening on the decision of the National Dairy Conference at New Plymouth in rejecting the Government's offer of an independent tribunal to fix the guaranteed price for dairy produce, the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage) said that the only thing to be considered now was what provision could be made for proper evidence to be given to the Government by the industry for its own benefit and for the benefit of the Government in determining the price.

"The only conclusion I can come to is that those who asked for a tribunal with a Judge as president to fix the price did not represent the dairy farmers at all," Mr. Savage said. "During my tour of the southern part of the North Island last week I did not meet one man who wanted it. The? all told me that they would rather deal with the Government. It is quite clear from the decision of the conference that they have more confidence in the present method of fixing the price than they would have in any less authoritative institution or tribunal."

The conference, as previously reported, gave its support to a report urging the appointment of an advisory body to make recommendations to the Government as to prices, leaving with the Government the responsibility of fixing them. This advisory body, the conference suggested, should consist of three members appointed by the industry, three appointed by the Crown, and a Judge of the Supreme Court appointed after consultation with the other six members. Commenting on this proposal, the Prime Minister said that as long as the industry wanted the Government to have the last say, it could do three things—adopt the recommendation of the tribunal, make the figure less, or make it more. "So why have the tribunal at all?" he asked.

REPRESENTATIVE CONFERENCE.

Mr. Savage said he regarded the New Plymouth conference as sufficiently representative to enable him to-say, in view of the.decision made, that the Government would not be held up by waiting for any further representations in the matter. By the end of July the Government would be right into the responsibility of being able to tell the farmers what they could expect for their next season's produce. "It is quite evident to me, from the decision of the conference and from what I have seen myself, that it would not be right,to force a tribunal on the industry," the Prime Minister continued. "We never had any intention in the wide world of attempting to try to hide behind any tribunal. The suggestion of a tribunal came from a conference of the industry in the first place. , . , "At a conference of the dairy industry called by the Dairy Board and held on March 1, the Minister of Marketing (the Hon. W. Nash) told, the delegates that if they wanted a tribunal he would go to Cabinet and recommend that they have it, but he also said he did not think it would be in the interests of the industry to adopt that procedure. "The only thing to be considered now is what provision we can make for proper evidence to be given by the industry itself for its own benefit and for our benefit in fixing the price. We want to do justice. They talk about compensated prices, but there is nothing that can be left out of account under the system we are operating today. Costs and everything 1 else relating to life on the dairy farms has to be considered, and will be considered, before we can intelligently fix the price. We want all the representative evidence we can get that the dairy farmers can offer."