GUARANTEED PRICE

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 74, 24 September 1938, Page 20

GUARANTEED PRICE

QUESTIONS FOR MR. NASH

(By Telearaph—Press Association.) PALMERSTON N., September 23. During his explanation of the guaranteed ptrice machinery, when speaking at Kimbolton to-night, the Minister of Marketing (the Hon. W. Nash) said it had been stated that if the Government adopted the advisory committee's recommendation for the new season, industry would be wrecked. "Why did you not pay the committee's price?" queried an interjector. "I will tell you later," replied the Minister. "Was the statement that the committee's recommendation, if given effect to, would wreck the industry right or wrong?" asked the interjector. The Minister was subjected to a good deal of interjections, wherein members of the audience persisted in asking why the committee's recommendation was not given effect to. The Minister: Because it was wrong. . ■ "Why then employ a commission?" was the next question, which was lost in noise. At a later stage Mr. Nash said the Government had not adopted the committee's recommendation because it would wreck the guaranteed price, and he was not going to do anything to bring that about. The other reason was that it was no use the dairyfarmer, as a section of the community, imagining he could build up his standards higher than other sections 'of the community performing the same service. "Waterside workers have done that," interjected a member of the audience. Mr. Nash: I am quite prepared to argue that later. He added that if the price had been fixed at a higher scale than circumstances justified, it would have started an orgy of land speculation again. Asked if he intended to sell butter on the local market at a loss of lsd a pound, Mr. Nash said he had not proposed to do so. The position was that, in anticipation of a higher guaranteed price, a lot of speculators had bought up a lot of butter, and already prices were tending to rise. The Government was investigating the position with the object of eliminating this speculation. In the meantime there would be no loss to the dairy industry account or the farmer. If there were any loss, then the Government would stand that loss. There was some little difficulty over the speculation element, and the Government intended to deal with it.