Savage-Mulholland Duel Over Guaranteed Price to Dairymen

Northern Advocate, 18 July 1939, Page 5

Savage-Mulholland Duel Over Guaranteed Price to Dairymen

[Special to “Northern Advocate ”] WELLINGTON, Monday. REPLYING TO THE STATEMENT MADE ON SATURDAY EY THE DOMINION PRESIDENT OF THE FARMERS’ UNION, MR W. W. MULHOLLAND, CONCERNING GUARANTEED PRICES, THE PRIME MINISTER (MR SAVAGE) TODAY EMPHASISED THAT HIS MAIN OBJECT WAS TO LEARN FROM THE DAIRY FARMERS THEMSELVES WHETHER THEY WANTED TO SCRAP THE GOVERNMENT’S GUARANTEED PRICE POLICY. “In his statement, Mr Mulholland .appears to have only one object,” said Mr Savage. “That is to misrepresent my answer to the question by Mr G. A. Barrell in the House of Re presentatives in reference to guaranteed prices, and the attitude of farmers towards the policy of the Govern ment.

Government Wants to Know. “In reply to this question, I stated definitely that the Government had not given it consideration, but that, based upon alleged opposition to the. guaranteed prices and the general marketing policy of the Government, a campaign against which has been carried out by Mr Mulholland and others in the country and Parliament from the very inception of the policy, if their attitude represents a genuine attempt to release dairy farmers from the policy, which was brought into operation as a means of helping them to be free from the vagaries of the overseas markets, it was obvious that the Government must take notice of it, and seek to learn the minds of farmers on the matter.” Mr Savage added that Mr Mulholland coolly assumed that it was the intention of the Government to hand over to the industry all the present facilities for organised marketing, including the facilities for operating the long-term stabilisation plan, which was a vital feature of the Government’s policy as originally expounded. This, of course, included facilities for finance, either through the Reserve Bank or through the trading banks. “An Extraordinary Assumption.”

“That is an extraordinary assumption,” Mr Savage said. “It means that after building an organisation which Mr Mulholland says deserves well of the industry, the Government is now asked to hand it over to a few private individuals. “Mr Mulholland further assumes that this delegation of the Government’s authority should carry with it the control, either wholly or in part, of more than one State department—the Marketing Department, including its internal and external activities, and the Reserve Bank. What Might Have Been. “May I again assure the farmers of New Zealand of my deep interest in their welfare, and my desire to have from them a first-hand and clear statement as to whether they think the present marketing system, with guaranteed prices, is an improvement on the old order of things? “The present dairy season will probably end with the farmers getting in the aggregate about £2,000,000 more than they would have received if Mr Mulholland had been successful with his propaganda against the Government’s policy. “Mr Mulholland wants to know what my proposals to the farmer really are. My reply is that my proposals are expressed in the present Government’s marketing and guaranteed price policy, but I want to know from the farmers if they would favour scrapping that policy.”