MARKETING CONTROL

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 June 1936, Page 7

MARKETING CONTROL

MINISTER EXPLAINS WORKING NO EXTENSIONS MEANWHILE [PEB PRESS ASSOCIATION.]

HASTINGS, June 17. A statement that the Government had no intention of dealing with anjthing but dairy produce during the present season, in connection with its export marketing principles, was made to the National Dairy Conterence, in Hastings, this afternoon by the Minister of Finance (Mr Nash). “One great object we set out to achieve was the removal for all time of the fear of price falls and ecstasies of price rises,” he said. Ot course, the farmer does not mmu ecstacies, but there are often very unfortunate sequels, and it is to avoid these, the Government policy will I strive to accomplish.” He had been reminded, he added, oi Dickens’s “Great Expectations. He did not know whether these expectations would be realised, nor could he tell what the price this year would be, but it would be more than the price obtained last year, or the year before, or the year before that. Dealing with the provisions of the Act, Mr Nash said the Marketing Department would ultimately take control of the marketing of all primary produce. That did. not mean that meat and wool would be taken in now, or at any time in the immediate future, but when the imperative need for such control had been proved, the same procedure as had been applied to dairy produce could be applied to the other products. People at the head of the fruitgrowing industry, said Mr Nash, had al-

ready expressed their anxiety that the same procedure should be made to apply to the export of fruit. He had answered he would discuss the request next year, as it was not the Government’s intention to include any produce other than butter and cheese under the Act this year. The existing Meat and Fruit Boards would be used as machinery for putting into operation the marketing system as it would apply to the fruit and meat industries.

The great question was where was the Government going to get the money, Mr Nash continued. Before passing the Act, he had discussed the financial aspects with Mr Leslie Lefeaux, Director of th'e Reserve Bank, and had arranged for whatever money might be necessary to enable the dairy export policy of the Government to be put into effect. There would be in the Reserve Bank an account into which all money from guaranteed prices would be paid, and into which 1 the proceeds from the sale of produce overseas would be paid. That was all that could be done at this end. and if it were to be successful, must be supplemented at the other end, and not solely by Tooley Street. So far as the Tooley Street merchants-were concerned, they would obtain the most profitable results by co-operat-ing with the New Zealand Government, and the Government had not had a word they were unwilling to do so. They would have to carry out their marketing in accordance with the Government’s intentions. Then they w’ould be paid as well as it was humanly possible to pay them for their services.

RECIPROCAL TRADING. The dairy export policy, continued the speaker, could not be put into effect unless the Government could establish reciprocal tradings agreement with the British Government. Under the new methods of marketing, it would be possible for him to say to the British Government, “We can produce 150,000 tons of butter. We havetaken every step to ensure its uniform and maximum quality, we can let you have it at a minimum price according to what the farmer ought to be paid for the worK of producing it, and we agree to take from you goods to the value of what we receive for our butter. You take this £15,000,000 worth of butter from us, and we will in turn, after provision for interest and for the redemption of debt we owe you, use the money in Britain for buying what we want.” Those principles, said Mr Nash, would be in being among all countries within the next ten years. “That may mean,” he added, ‘‘that our produce will be taken nowheie else, but I won’t worry. It may mean we will have’ to take all our cotton goods from Britain, and not. say, from Japan.” If there were products that might be brought into being in New Zealand, and that were not wanted by Britain, then the Government would make bilateral agreements with companies that -would take those products. Going on to speak of his conception of the world as one economic unit, Mr Nash said the rest of the world could not keep Germany or Japan or India on a lower level than itself. “If we have resources that are not available to other countries,” he said, “then we must make bilateral agreements with those countries.” He had been asked whether if the prices realised were greater than the guaranteed prices, the excess would belong to the farmer or to the Government. As Mr Savage had said the Government did not want to make a profit out of any industry, if there were excess, it would be credited to the Dairy Industry Account, and used for the benefit of the industry. Why not a bonus? he had been asked. There would be no bonus. He could say, however, that the excess, if any, would not be used without consultation with representatives of the industry. Under the policy of the Government, no section of the community would benefit at the expense of another section. The Government was trying to ensure that every man on the land, every man on the waterfront, and every clerk in the office was paid a legitimate share of the wealth he brought into the country.

In answer to a question which dealt with the possibility that men offered 16 shilling’s a day on public works, will not be willing to work on farms, and consequently farm labour may be difficult to engage, Mr Nash said the Government was acting in the matter. It was ensuring that farm labour would be available, and the rates of pay had already been determined. It meant that if work were not available on public w’orks, and farm labour were available, men refusing to accept farm work, would not be paid sustenance.