ON THE LAND

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 12 May 1939, Page 3

ON THE LAND

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MEAT AND WOOL

GUARANTEED PRICE QUESTION STATEMENT BY PRIME MINISTER NO DESIRE TO FORCE IT ON WOOL GROWERS “Tlie Government has no desire to force a guaranteed price on the wool-growers,” said the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage, when referring yesterday to statements made by the Dominion president of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union, Mr W. W. Mulholland, at a meeting of farmers in Feilding on Wednesday. A proposal for guaranteed prices for meat and wool was rejected by tlie meeting. Mr Savage, who said that Mr Mulholland’s address was a political speech from beginning to end, remarked that the public would be glad to know why Mr Mulholland favoured a guaranteed price for wheat and opposed it for wool.

Commenting on a statement made by Mr Mulholland that "the farmer has lost the sympathy of other classes and that it is his duty to win back that sympathy.” the Prime Minister said that the farmer had not lost the sympathy of the other classes. “If he has. then Mr Mulholland’s methods of trying to get it back sound peculiar to me,” he added.

“If Mr Mulholland can tell me what my proposals are in regard to the guaranteed price he will be educating m-. because so far no proposals have been submitted to the farmers,” continued the Prime Minister. “I have been asked what the price is likely to be. and I replied that it was quite impossible for me to say what it should be before an inquiry was made. It seems to me that Mr Mulholland is shadowsparring, and is using his imagination, which appears to be fairly elastic, as to what is going to happen.

PRICE NOT DISCUSSED “I have not discussed what the guaranteed price would be, but I have gone so far as to say that any guaranteed price would have to take into account the farmer’s outlay and other conditions. If he did not get a guaranteed price that would meet all that and give him a decent standard of living, then the guaranteed price would break down.” Mr Savage commented on a reference by Mr Mulholland about the advances made by trading banks to dairy companies, and the statement that Mr Mulholland did not know that the position of the dairy-farmer was “as bad

as it evidently is.” Mr Savage said that the guaranteed price had not broken down in the case of the dairyfarmer. “I have had no complaintb from dairy-farmers,” he said, “with the exception,of cne or two officers of tnt Farmers’ Union, who have been perambulating up and down the country talking politics most of the time. The dairy-farmer to-day is in a more stable position than he has ever been. What is to prevent the same result coming to the wool-growers as has come to the dairy-farmer to-day?” Mr Mulholland was reported as saying that “if the Government had found it impossible to raise export prices, as its policy required it to do, then it should have the courage to admit its mistake and proceed to reduce costs to a level at which export industries could maintain production.’ Referring to this. Mr Savage said that no Government would be stupid enough to think that it could control prices overseas, "and as for courage,” he added, “ if there is any running to be done I am [ not going to do any of it.” Commenting on Mr Mulholland’s statement about the high cost of wages, Mr Savage said that if Mr Mulholland waited till this Government reduced the wages and salaries of employees in industry he had a long wait ahead of

him. "That is not the way to prosperity,” he said.

“It is reported that there were 400 present at the meeting,” said the Prime Minister. “I think if you divide that by two, you will probably get the correct number. And even if there were 400. it is not stated how many were not there.

“We realise that some farmers are not getting a fair deal,” said Mr Savage, “but it is not due to the wages they arc paying. There are other things to be corrected. I know that tb* guaranteed price is going to destroy those who are exploiting the wool grower. It destroyed those who were exploiting the dairy-farmer, and I am not going to apologise for that. “The wool grower wants some stabil ity and some guarantee as to the fu ture. The guaranteed price would give him that, and it would give the Gov ernment a lot of worry, too. Wc do not want to force anything on the wool growers. We are willing to meet them and to try to help them safeguard their future. I do not know whether Mr Mulholland represents the wool growers or not. but if he does I pity the wool growers.” Reference was also made by Mr Savage to a report that a meeting of South Island farmers had advocated that, in the event of a referendum to decide whether sheepfarmers wanted a guaranteed price or not. voting should be on the basis of the number of sheep the farmer owned. The Government, said the Prime Minister, had not considered ffie question of a referendum, but if one were taken it would be of human beings and not of sheep. The wives and families of the small sheepfarmcr wool grower were just as valuaable as any * other section.