OPINION CHANGED

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 14 November 1934, Page 6

OPINION CHANGED

AGRICULTURE BILL SUPPORTED REMOVAL OF CERTAIN CLAUSES _. i | Further details of the Agriculture (Emergency Powers) Bill received in Christchurch have changed the opinion of sheep farming interests who opposed it, and they are now stated to be in full support of the Bill (reports the “Press ). Tile secretary to the Canterbury Sheep Owners’ Union, Mr W. H. Nicholson, stated last evening that the words construed in the original Bill to mean that wool, grain, and other commodities might he controlled merely because of the Bill had been removed altogether. It was being made clear, beyond doubt, that the co-ordination of the existing hoards and not domination over them was the purpose of the Bill; that the Government had never had in mind at any time the idea of forcing unwanted organisation or control upon wool-grow-ers oi- other producers not at present under board control.

In the Bill as it was passed, Mr Nicholson said, the clauses to which ho had objected in comment reported in the

“Press” on Saturday had been removed. He agreed that a commission as suggested, as an advisory board to the Government, and with power to co-ordinate the efforts' of individual hoards in matters of general concern such as the opening of new markets, should be of great value. Overhead costs would he capable of considerable reduction and there could be greater efficiency and elimination of overlapping. The Minister’s statement when the Bill was discussed in committee seemed to have cleared the air and should allay the anxieties of sheep owners and other primary producers who had expressed themselves in opposition to the Bill as it stood originally.