LUMP PAYMENTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 135, 5 December 1944, Page 4

LUMP PAYMENTS

NEW ZEALAND PRODUCE

TRUSTEESHIP PROPOSAL

O.C. PALMERSTON N., This Day. In the absence of any precise and detailed information concerning the negotiations with the United Kingdom Government respecting the prices paid for New Zealand's produce and the resultant arrangement of lump sum payments by the Imperial Government, primary producers contend that they see in this a very marked departure from the principle of exchange and read into these changed conditions, the operation of the New Zealand Government's declared policy of controlling distribution as well as exchange.

Views in support of this were expressed at yesterday's meeting of the Wellington Central provincial executive of the Farmers' Union, and following a lengthy discussion the following resolution was carried:

"That with respect to the negotiations between the United Kingdom Government and New Zealand Government concerning payments for produce, this executive views with concern the failure of the New Zealand Government to set out precisely the full and exact nature and terms of the lump sum payments and exactly what price the United Kingdom Government has agreed to pay for our produce, and strongly recommends to the Government the appointment of a commission representative of primary producers to control the funds as trustees for the producers." •