TRUTH OF POTATO POSITION STATED RY MINISTER

Grey River Argus, 5 November 1949, Page 4

TRUTH OF POTATO POSITION STATED RY MINISTER

Decay of South Island Pits Responsible P.A. WELLINGTON. November 4. Reiterating his earlier statements, the Minister of Agriculture, Hon. E. T. Cullen, to-night, in Greytown, attributed the ,present shortage of potatoes to the fact that thousands vf tons had rotted in the South Island. The total acreage of potatoes for which the Internal Marketing Division had contracted last year was 2800 acres more than the acreage of the previous year. Mr Cullen said that, normally, in th e areas which grew early potatoes, the yield was from three to'five tons an acre. In the Hawke’s Bay district, however, there was a yield of ten tons to the acre. There were, in fact, thousands of tons of potatoes in excess. Mr Cullen continued that he had tried to export potatoes to other countries, but the only buyer was the Middl e East, which would have involved an uneconomic subsidy. He had refused to do that. Under the contract terms the Internal Marketing Department had agreed to pay a fair-average-quality pric e for the potatoes held at the end of November. But the pits, in the South Island, on account of the climatic conditions, started to decay, so the matter was discussed with Cabinet. It was agreed that the payout would be made in October. A loss of £130,000 was thus incurred by the Internal Marketing Department. Hon. Mr Cullen criticised the action of a certain weekly newspaper in attacking the Minister and his Department as to the handling of the potato shortage. That paper, the Minister said, had belied its name. “Is there any shortage of potatoes in Greytown?” asked Mr Cullen. “It looks to me to-night as if you people are short of nothing".