AFTER THE WAR

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 13, 16 January 1941, Page 10

AFTER THE WAR

PRICE SAFEGUARD

TO AVOID SLUMP

POSSIBLE MARKETS

AMERICAN BASES?

Several important points were referred to by Mr. W. J. Poison, M.P. for Stratford and president of the New Zealand Primary and Ancillary Industries Producers' Council, in a telephone interview from Stratford with a "Post" reporter this afternoon. The main point emphasised by Mr. Poison was the necessity of adequate safeguards, so that there would not be a disastrous slump in prices at -the end of the war by the release of meat held in storage to compete against fresh meat. "While one realises the necessity for "the action that has been taken," said .Mr. Poison, "the great fear is that the - very dangerous position which was -created as a result of almost identical -action during the last war might arise i again, when the meat in store was used to beat the market down against '-'•the new meat that was being produced. i^The result was to create a disastrous slump in meat prices. That must be against by some arrangement "between Governments, because if it happened again it would result in a ,1-yery disastrous position in New Zealand." TWO THINGS MEANTIME. Two things would have to be done ; •in the meantime, Mr. Poison said. More .storage would have to be provided, and in the second place he thought an -effort should be made to see if additional markets for our meat could be found. He suggested that it ought to v"be possible to find an outlet for our ,Vjnea* in connection with the establishment of American defence bases. -'•"' As New Zealand was in the Pacific .jit might be able to supply a substantial amount of the meat requirements AAAfoT any bases created by the United V States in this area. Reverting to the question of storage, • Mr. Poison said this was a matter that ' 'he had been raising ever since the out- _ break of war. We naa now got one gear's storage practically fixed and the .^Government had undertaken to provide other equipment, such as compressors

and pipes that it was necessf try to import from overseas, to ensure •( a second year's storage if required. PAYMENT TO FARM JERS. One of the farmer's anxie jfcies wouli be payment. Manifestly the farmers could not wait indefinitely f< >r shipment before they were paid. Tha afc had been partly foreseen by the arrai iigement al-1 ready made for a 50 per ceiM. payment for delay in store of a couple of months, but obviously that i was insufficient for long-term storage. Mr. Poison suggested Mtiat it might be possible to arrange /for finance against store warrants through the banks for the balance, or *p.ossibly some further arrangement mijj;ht be made with the Imperial Government to meet this phase of the difficuifcty. GREATER PRODUCTION. j Mr. Poison said he h( ijped, however, that it would be possil ale to ship a considerable quantity of ', meat, because already this year the ir idications were that the Dominion w «ould produce more lambs than usue 01 and that the weight would be son iewhere about 21b per head heavier than last year. This meant a great incr rase in quantity and weight compared 'with last year. Our lamb this year 'would be more than double the production of lamb and mutton by New 77. ealand in a good many of the years go ac by. Above all, Mr. Pol feon stressed the necessity o? stored mc jat not being put on the open market , when the war was over against the fresh meat that the country would be » producing, with the effect of utterly i destroying prices. "That must be fores een and guarded against," he said, "an< I I have no doubt that the Governmen ft and the Meat Board are awake to that aspect."