THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY ” Public Service.” WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1944 DAIRY PRICES

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 53, Issue 32479, 13 September 1944, Page 4

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY ” Public Service.” WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1944 DAIRY PRICES

By the time the dairy farmer of New Zealand has mastered the intricacies of the agreement for the distribution of the additional payments from Britain he will probably discover that he will receive an increase in prices of roughly the twopence a pound of butterfat for which the Dairy Board decided to press, without an adequate allowance for the rearing of calves which was also sought. His dreams of sharing the lump sum payments have disappeared. Britain agreed to a lump sum payment of £12,000,000 and of £4,000,000 a year for four years. In addition it was agreed to pay an increased price for dairy produce calculated to yield £4,500,000 a year. It is out of this last-mentioned sum that the farmers are to receive their increase in the “guaranteed price.” The other sums go into the national stabilisation account. The increased payments to farmers will amount to perhaps £3,000,000' and the remainder of the £4,500,000 will go into the dairy industry stabilisation account and will be subject to discussion with the industry before allocation. The agreement between the Government and the industry provides for an additional payment of 2.12 pence a pound of butterfat. The wages cost allowance has been increased by 1.47 pence a pound to provide an increase of half-a-crown a week in the wages of both farm workers and working farmers. The farm costs allowance, including provision for the encouragement of the rearing of calves, has been increased 1 by .65 pence a pound. The dairy farmer will benefit by 2.12 pence a pound, less; the increase of 2s 6d a week in the Wages of farm workers. Mr Fraser promised that the interests of the sharemilker would be studied but presumably any improvement in the conditions of the sharemilker will take the form of an increased share in the proceeds of the farm and will not be the subject of any increase in the guaranteed price. In the meantime argument is raging in Parliament and elsewhere on the reasons for the additional/ payments by Britain — whether they were in fact made on account of New Zealand produce which Britain had been buying at under world parity prices. No satisfactory explanation has yet been given.. The difficulty has arisen because the whole matter has been allowed to drift for years. If the balance between Britain and New Zealand had been adjusted every year since the war began, would the adjustment have been made by an increase in the prices of New Zealand exports or by some other means? In other Words, did the disequilibrium arise for any other reason than that NewZealand did not adjust its export prices to the movements in import prices and of costs? The payment of large lump sums is a unique method of bringing about an adjustment and is scarcely a method that anyone would care to see perpetuated.