ADMISSIONS OF IGNORANCE

North Canterbury Gazette, Volume 7, Issue 7, 4 June 1937, Page 8

ADMISSIONS OF IGNORANCE

Authorities and Fruit Price Fixation GROWERS TO SUPPLY THE INFORMATION An ignorance which astonished members of the Loburn Fruitgrowers' Association was admitted in letters received at their meeting on Wednesday night from the New Zealand Federation and the Minister of Agriculture. "We have not seen these and know nothing of the- matter," wrote Mr A. O. Osborne, secretary of the N.Z. Fruitgrowers' Federation, replying tq j> letter from Loburn which drew his attention to the disparity between the prices set by the Court of Review and the schedule proposed as offering a fair return to growers in the Government's £40,000 subsidy plan. "At the moment I am not conversant with the matter," said the Minister of Agriculture (the Hon. W. Lee Martin), to whose attention the matter had also been drawn. The Minister further stated, in reply to the Loburn Association's protest, that the prices were being arranged only after a full investigation and that the signing of sales sheets by customers was necessary for checking purposes. If signatures could not be obtained the return should shoAv this fact. "It is absurd that the heads of the industry should not know what is common property with any grower," said Mr H. Sampson. Mr N. Goldsbury: We received the Court of Review's prices from the Department of Agriculture, and here the Minister in charge of that Department does not know about it. It was deicded that the Federation should be advised to purchase a copy of the order of the Court of Review dealing with average prices of primary products. Concerning the matter of signatures for sales sheets, Mr Sampson said he had communicated direct with Mr J. A. Campbell, of the Horticultural Section of the Department of Agriculture, and had secured advice that it was realised that signatures could not always be obtained, but that a return showing the name of the buyer and the amount of the sale should be furnished. Mr Sampson pointed out how much more satisfactory this was than the advice received from the Minister. It had evidently only been necessary to ask for a concession in plain terms and it was given. Mr A. W. Thomas: Who's running the country 1 It was also decided to purchase a copy of the Court's order and send it to the Minister with a request that he should bear it in mind when considering the form of any assistance proposed for the fruit industry. Mr Thomas: We'll equip him with some xip-to-date information. Mr Macleod pointed out that the Minister's letter contained much the same information about the signature requirements as the one Teceived by Mr Sampson from Mr Campbell. Mr Campbell's was freer. He suggested that Mr Campbell had dictated the Minister's letter. Mr Sampson: And I suppose the office boy dictated the one I received. I'll stick to mine in preference to the Minister's.