POTATO MARKETING

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 August 1939, Page 10

POTATO MARKETING

SUPERVISION BY STATE. [PEE PBEBS ASSOCIATION.] WELLINGTON, August 24. From now on potatoes will come within the provisions of the Primary Products Marketing Amendment Act, 1937, and will come under the supervision of the Internal Marketing Division. This announcement is made in the Gazette to-night, and it was announced simultaneously by the Acting Minister for Marketing (Mr. Lee Martin) that the Government had. agreed to the importation of quantities of potatoes to augment the supply between the end of the old season and the harvesting of the new crop.

Under the amending act of 1937, the Minister said, the Internal Marketing Division was empowered to keep a very close check on market prices and also where necessary to fix minimum and/or maximum prices immediately. Prices could be varied in different parts of New Zealand, as the campaign warranted. “It is anticipated that potatoes have now passed their peak in price and retail values should gradually start to fall. A complete survey of New Zealand stocks has been made, and the Government has agreed to the importation of the necessary quantities to augment the supply between seasons. The first overseas supply will arrive in New Zealand on September 1, and shipments will be arriving periodically from then on to ease the position. “The Internal Marketing Division will be communicating with the interested units of trade immediately.”

When the House of Representatives sat to-day, Mr. W. J. Polson (Opposition, Stratford), in giving notice of a question to the Minister for Industries and Commerce (Mr. Sullivan), asked whether it was true that the Price Tribunal was about to fix the retail price of potatoes at 3d per lb, and whether this was not totally at variance with the policy of the Government as stated by the Prime Minister, that if the Government allowed prices to rise with increase in wages it would not have achieved anything.