FARMERS PROTEST

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 73, 23 September 1938, Page 15

FARMERS PROTEST

GUARANTEED PRICE

REDUCTION OF STANDARDS

(By Telegraph—Press Association.)

HAMILTON, September 22.

While endorsing .the recommenflations of the Guaranteed Price Advisory Committee and complimenting them on their work, the South Auckland Dairy Association today emphatically protested against the action of the Minister of Marketing in reducing the standards set by the Committee.

After a long discussion the following "resolutions were passed:— "That this meeting of members of the South Auckland Dairy Association, after perusing the report, unanimously endorses the standards established by the report Of the Guaranteed Price Advisory Committee of 1938."

"That this meeting of members emphatically protests against the action of the Government in altering the standards unanimously established by the Guaranteed Price Advisory Committee, thus reducing the return to the producer to such an extent that if he employs all- paid labour he will net approximately half a penny a lb for butterfat less than he received last season, and leaving him to carry steadily-increasing costs by the use of unpaid family labour." "That this association regrets the attitude adopted by the Government in reducing the price recommended by the Committee, which implies that the Government finds it impossible to pay the dairy farmer a price which will cover ascertained costs, although these have been increased largely as the result "of recent legislation."

"That this meeting emphatically protests against the delay of the Internal Marketing Department in increasing the price of butter sold on the local market to the equivalent of the guaranteed price."