BASIS UNFAIR

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20636, 16 August 1941, Page 4

BASIS UNFAIR

MEAT PURCHASES AVERAGE OF SEASONS HIGH PRODUCTION CALL A claim made by the Minister of Agriculture, the Hon. J. G. Barclay, that the Government was treating the farmers fairly when it took the average production of meat in New Zealand over a period of years and then bought up to that figure, was contested by Mr. S. D. Reeves, a member of the Meat Board electoral college, when he met the provincial council of the Farmers’ Union in Gisborne yesterday. He said that he had noticed a report of a previous meeting, at which Mr. •J. E. Benson, president of the provincial executive, had stated that the Minister had admitted that the farmers had had a “bad spin.’’ He did not think, judging from Mr. Barclay's statements since, that he did subscribe to that view. In a broadcast during the past week, the Minister had said that by the end of the current season, the Government would have purchased 340.000 tons of meat from the New Zealand producers, and that it had greatly exceeded its promise to buy all the export meat for this season. State Request Ignored "The Minister quotes, I think unfairly, the production figures over the past few years, and takes an average from those for comparison with what ;hs Government has bought or intends to buy this season,’’ said Mr. Reeves. “He ignores the fact that we produced 350,000 tons of meat last season, which constituted a record for the Dominion, and that the Government asked the farmers to increase their production still further —that is, to beat the record. “The farmers got to work and made arrangements to produce more, and would have done it this season had ■not the Government refused, at a late date, to take two-tooth wethers and certain other classes of meat which normally are exportable.” Mr. E. U. Richardson commented that the Minister now charged the farmers with dumping on the Government meat which should not be killed —eating into the capital flocks, in effect. Heavy British Purchases Mr. Reeves: We were on our way to increase the tonnage beyond 350,000, at the Government’s request. We could have done it, too, by putting on extra weight on the carcases. Yet the Minister says that he has done well when he has bought 340,000 tons to the end of the season. The British Government had taken 248,000 tons of meat off the hands of the New Zealand Government already. The meeting proceeded to discuss further matters brought up by Mr. Reeves and by members of the executive in respect of Meat Board policy. Those present at the meeting were Messrs. J. E. Benson, president, E. U. Richardson, R. D. Dymock, W. T. Veitch, J. E. Brosnahan, P. W. Mossman, F. A. Lange, W. Honey and T. V. Sewell, with the secretary, Mr. C. Blackburn. Mr. S. D. Reeves met the provincial executive by appointment.