ON WHAT BASIS?

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 92, 20 April 1939, Page 15

ON WHAT BASIS?

GUARANTEED PRICE

FIXATION DISCUSSED

DAIRY CONFERENCE

A preliminary discussion on the guaranteed price for dairy produce took place at the annual conference of the New Zealand Dairy Board yesterday afternoon. Nine remits on the subject were on the agenda, and the discussion arose over a suggestion that the remits should be referred to a committee of the conference which should embody them in one remit to be presented to the conference for consideration this morning. This course was agreed to.

A report on the events leading up to the setting up and operations of the advisory committee which had made recommendations for the pries was presented by the chairman of the board (Mr. W; E. Hale). In view of the action of the Government in not accepting the recommendation of the committee, it was stated, the board again called together the representatives who had met on July 15,. 1938, for the purpose of nominating the industry's representatives on the 1938 Price Fixing Advisory Committee.

In the course of its report to the Dairy Board, this committee stated that a further conference of the industry's representative committee, held in Wellington on September 21, 1938, passed a resolution endorsing the 1938 committee's report in full. The chairman of the Dairy Board called the committee together again on February 17, 1939, stating that it was his purpose to deal with the question of the guaranteed price at the ward conferences, and that he desired to place before them the result of a discussion he had had with the Minister of Marketing.

"The chairman stated that, in effect, the Minister's suggestion was that the current season's price should be accepted for the 1939-40 season, and that, if this decision were acceptable, he would arrange in consultation with the dairy industry for some qualified persons to at once enter into an investigation of a standard procedure that would\ cover the dairy farmer's costs and give him a reasonable return for his capital and labour," the report stated. -• "The committee unanimously agreed that it was unable to approve of the Minister's suggestion, and stated that the standards unanimously adopted by the 1938 committee should be adhered to, and that the prices unanimously recommended by* that committee should be regarded as the absolute minimum. At this meeting attention was drawn to the fact that further increases in costs had taken place since the 1938 committee's report was presented, and the resolution stated that all ascertainable increases in costs should be added annually to the prices already recommended by the 1938 Advisory Committee. This meeting on February 17 appointed a subcommittee of four to, discuss the position with the Minister of Marketing. A LEAD WANTED. "The lext meeting\vas held on' March 16, 1939, when the chairman "reported! that the Minister had stressed the advantage of stabilising costs, and had! indicated that if the dairy industry) would give him a lead in stabilisation by v accepting the present prices for 1939-40 it would be of great assistance to him when he appeared before the conference of the Federation of Labour at Easter. , '' "Another meeting of the industry committee was held on March 28, when the report of the deputation which waited on the Minister was received and discussed. A meeting was arranged with the Minister that afternoon, when all phases, were fully discussed- at a round-table conference. Up to that date, however, we had received no concrete proposals from the Minister concerning stabilisation of costs in New Zealand, and therefore adhered to the attitude which we had adopted in supporting the report of the 1938 Advisory Committee. "A further meeting of the committee was held yesterday (April 18), when it was recognised that any proposal from the Minister re stabilisation of costs was so important that it merited the serious consideration of industry. "We are of opinion, however, that any advantage which may have accrued to the industry from guaranteed prices has been absorbed by increasing costs, and our fear is that these costs wall continue to rise. In view of this the committee is not prepared to depart from the decision made on February 17 as follows: that the standards of the 1938 committee should be adhered to and the prices unanimously recommended by that committee should be regarded as an absolute minimum."

After some discussion, Mr. R. A. Candy moved that the committee to be set up by the conference should bring down its report on the basis of a price advisory committee rather than a price-fixing committee.

Mr. Agar: The expression of opinion in the conference is clear and the resolution is not necessary.

The resolution was withdrawn, and the following committee was appointed: Messrs. E. R. Bird, G. H. Meuli, J. Fisher, F. O. R. Phillips, C. P. Agar, W. Marshall, and the chairman (Mr. W. E. Hale).

The board's report was adopted,