DAIRY FARMERS' POSITION

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4817, 31 July 1939, Page 5

DAIRY FARMERS' POSITION

THE GUARANTEED PRICE. LEFT WITH NO OPTION. Remarks on the guaranteed price that were the subject of appreciative comment as defining clearly the position of the dairy farmer to-day were made by Mr. W. Walker, senr., at the Farmers' Union meeting on Friday afternoon.

Mr. Walker was of opinion that the guaranteed price had gone by the board. This had actually been told farmers by Mr. Nash when he informed them that they could not hope to secure.more from the guaranteed price than the industry could itself realise. From the statements that had been made there would be a deficit of one and a half millions in the Dairy Industry Account at the end of this season, and it had been stated quite clearly that in the long run that this would have to be the responsibility 'of the . dairy farmers themselves. As for the state of the country's finances, that could in no way be blamed upon the dairy farmer, for this one and a half millions constituted the only real deficit in the .public account incurred on their behalf. Because of the situation that had arisen with the rising costs, he felt that the dairy farmer had no option but to accept the guaranteed price as it was offered to them —but he did not think that it would be offered for long. He anticipated the likelihood of Mr. Nash having on his return some new propositions to make.

Later in the meeting Mr. G. C. Miln held that the reason why sheepfarmers were not in favour of a guai'anteed price was that they had no concrete proposals placed before them.

This provoked a general discussion on the matter, the president, Mr. J. F. Roberts, pointing out that, though a section of graziers' opinions in Auckland favoured the seeking of a guaranteed price, the Sheepowners' Federation were against this course of action.

Mr. W. I. Hunt said that it was no good asking, for help through a guaranteed price for meat and wool producers because the "kitty" was empty. The only way to keep up the standard of living was to increase the rate of exchange. Voting on a question like this should be on the basis on the number of sheep owned.

Mr. Mason said that in the event of the exchange rising, the interest costs would rise, because the cost of imports governed the price of the locally produced article. Raising the exchange would perhaps act as a filip to farming but not help for any length of time. Mr. Miln said at present the exchange was pegged, and the freeing of it would only equalise internal and overseas prices. Personally, he considered that the Government had in mind the varying of the exchange rate when it first proposed the payment of guaranteed prices. No finality was reached on the discussion.