PRICE OF BARLEY

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 308, 26 November 1936, Page 2

PRICE OF BARLEY

CONCERN IN CANTERBURY. Per Press Association. CHRISTCHURCH, Nqv. 25. “The way things are going now, farmers will have to dig their toes in or they will lose control of the whole of their business. There is a tendency not only in regard to barley, but for all forms of farm produce, to be controlled by the State. In the case of barley it would seem that the buying interests have been able to keep very close to the Government daring the consideration of prices, while the growers, through not being able to keep a ma.n constantly on the Minister’s doormat, have not been consulted.” The foregoing statement was made by the president, of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union (Mr IV. IV. Mulholland) at to-day’s meeting of the North Canterbury executive of that body, when the action of the Government in fixing next year prices for malting barley was under review. _ The Minister of Industries and Commerce (Hon. D. G. Sullivan) had not kept the promise he had given to barley growers, said Mr R. T. McMillan, when approached on the subject. Somo time ago, the Minister had given, he said, an undertaking to growers that they would be consulted before prices were fixed. Unfortunately that had not been done, and today Canterbury growers were asked to accept a price which strangely enough was considerably lower than that allowed in other districts. The prices, as determined, were as follow: —Canterbury and North Otago, 4s a bushel on trucks; Marlborough and Nelson, 4s 3d in 6tore; Hawea-Luggate district, 4s 6d on trucks. At 4s the price to Canterbury growers represented only 3d increase on last season, which would not nearly meet the increased costs of production with which they had been saddled. He was at a loss to understand why Canterbury growers should be paid as much as Is less than the price conceded to sonic of the other districts. Clearly the Canterbury growers had been left “right out in the cold,” concluded Mr McMillan. The protests of Messrs Mulholland and McMillan were endorsed by the meeting, which referred the whole matter to the union’s barley committee for consideration and report.