FARMERS’ LIME

Hokitika Guardian, 6 December 1940, Page 2

FARMERS’ LIME

REPORT OF COMMITTEE

(Per Press Association--Copyright)

WELLINGTON, Dec. 4

A series of important decisions, including legislative control of the industry, formulated by the Agricultural Lime Investgational Committee, originally appointed in April, 1939, is detailed in recommendations which have been made to the Minister for Agriculture (the Hon. W. Lee Martin;. The report was tabled in the House of Representatives, to-day. “The diversified conditions under which the industry labours rendered the task of the committee from the outset a difficult one,” the roporv states. “If it had been possible to generalise to any degree the committee feels that some reorganisation within the industry would have been possible, and would have been reflected in better conditions, botli within and outside the industry. In the circumstances the committee’s hands have been somewhat tied.” The first recommendation of the committee is that the subsidy should be 75 per cent, on rail transport, and (10 per cent, on other methods of transport. It is of opinion that the present system of subsidy by way of free railage on agricultural lime is inequitable, in that it benefits only one section of the farming community, and that it is uneconomic in its present form in its encouragement of overlapping in railage. The estimate is that the cost of the scheme to the Consolidated Fund will, in the first year, amount to £170,090, based on an output of 500,000 tons. The figure may be expected to increase in subsequent years, due to the stimulating effect- the subsidy is expected to have on the demand for lime.

Control of prices of lime is recommended by the introduction of a system of registration of lime producing companies, subject to approval by the Minister of an analysis and the fineness of grinding. The committee also recommends that registration should be refused to lime producing companies failing to comply with the terms under which their registration had been originally approved.

Rents and Royalties

The institution of legislative control to ensure that in future rents and royalties paid for the right to quarry lime are regulated within reasonable limits is recommended. It is also proposed that, if possible, provision should be made for the revising of existing contracts in cases where the charge is deemed excessive. Another recommendation is that the maximum raw of commission on the sale of lime be fixed at JO per cent of the selling price, excluding the cost of bags. The fixing of a -standard charge a ton of lime lor the usage of- bags is recommended, as also are efforts to explore the.' possibilities of a- cheap paper bag being produced within the Dominion. It is alsoy.proposed that no prospective lime producing company be allowed to issue a prospectus without first obtaining a licence. Proposals for spreading the peak period of deliveries are recommended to make for greater stability, less congestion, more permanent employment, and reduced costs, • While it- is not felt that the present is. a., propitious time for recommending Government assistance for the initial costs, the committee recommends the establishment in back country districts of community crushing plants, and suggests tha provision should be made for loans, to be.repaid by amortisation. Except in .certain districts, which’ arc At present poorly served, the committee is of opinion that- no new quarries should be opened up adajaeent to or in districts easily served by existing units. Some measure of rebel from heavy traffic licence fees to farmers using their own trucks is recommended, and the committee is also of opinion that any departure from the fixed schedule of road transpori charges would be a retrograde step. That tho industry should be controlled by legislation, and that the Minister should take appropriate steps to have legislative control put into action, is the final recommendation of the committee. A memorandum of dissent from the committee’s recommendations has been signed -bv Mr N. E. Dalmer, of the Department of Industries and Commerce, who states that a scheme providing for payment by way of subsidy on transport charges- only was neither equitable, nor would it overcome those deficiencies in the existing system which were of chief moment to the Government.