FRUIT INDUSTRY

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 36, 11 August 1939, Page 15

FRUIT INDUSTRY

REBATE ON PETROL

DEPUTATION TO MINISTER

An assurance that the representations they made would receive early consideration was given a deputation from the New Zealand Fruitgrowers' Federation by the acting Prime Minister (the Hon. P. Fraser) yesterday afternoon.

The deputation, which emphasised the serious nature of some of their difficulties, consisted of Messrs. F. Firth (Auckland), H. J7 Webb (Cromwell), A. Lowe (Hawke's Bay), and A. Forsythe (Motueka). They asked: (1) That the Government consider placing all primary producers on the. same basis as fishermen regarding the rebate on petrol; (2) an inquiry into transport costs in the Nelson Province; (3) relief from the Social Security tax on foodstuffs produced by the farmer on his farm; (4) the abolition or alleviation of the heavy traffic fees on orchardists' lorries; (5) an inquiry into the rating system in Hawke's Bay and improvement of the telephone service in relatively densely-populated backcountry areas.

Mr. Firth said that while they felt that the additional 4d a gallon on petrol was going to hit the farmer hard, they were not making any real objection to that. He said that fishermen had for years been drawing an extra 2d rebate on petrol compared with the rebate allowed users of farm implements. With the imposition of the new tax they would receive in all a rebate of Is, whereas the fruit growers' rebate was 6d. He asked that the fruit growers be placed on the same basis.

Mr. Forsythe said that the cost of landing a case of Nelson fruit in Dunedin today was 2s 2d, compared with Is lOd a few years ago, because of an increase in the transport costs. They had been promised an inquiry into the whole question of transport in Nelson, but it had not yet materialised. Nelson was the largest fruit-producing province in New Zealand, but its problem was that all its markets were distant, and the shipping service was not entirely suitable. . He asked that the inquiry should be made as soon as possible.

Mr. Webb referred to the heavy traffic licence fees for farmers who were feeders to the railways, which, he said, had been a bone of contention for some time. They fell more heavily on the orchardist who owned a lorry and transported his own produce than on carriers. The industry asked for the introduction of regulations exempting farmers feeding the railways from the heavy traffic licence fees or some alleviation in this regard.