THE GUARANTEED PRICE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22499, 17 August 1936, Page 12

THE GUARANTEED PRICE

Sir, —In reply to R. A. Jackson, I J will endeavour to draw a very s:imple comparison. We will take a father with ! a family dependent on him. He lias a good job with good wages. Now, it is | only natural that, while he enjoys that happy position, his family are able to live comfortably with a fair amount of leisure and epjoy some of the pleasures of life. But as soon as he loses that position or job the economic position of his home life alters, and his family must lower their of living accordingly. The farmer may be looked on as the father of New Zealand, and prosperity definitely cannot be brought about by placing those dependent on the farmer on a higher scale of living and then expecting the farmer to follow. The farmer's position must be assured first, and the others will naturally follow. There are dairy factories that for the past season have been paying Is Id and over. Can anyone say that their suppliers are better off under the guaranteed price, even if production costs had not risen? As to the method of arriving at the guaranteed price, well, the whole system was absurd and unjust. An average for 20 years would have been nearer the mark. In working out a cricketer's batting average, would anybody be stupid enough to suggest taking eight or ten of his very lowest scores and average them? Apart from that, it is not a matter of average price for any period. The position is this: —The labourer is placed on a basis that is 50 per cent, better than last year's basis, so it is only justice and sound policy that the farmer be made 50 per cent better off instead of being made worse off. The following remark, made by Air. J. G. Barclay, M.P., is typical of the Labour Government's attitude toward the farmers. "Under the guaranteed price system the average farmer, even with any increase in costs, will have just as good a living as a man earning 16s a day on public works." Evidently the farmer gets no compensation for long hours, worry and risk of losing his capital. The knowledge he possesses and the training that is necessary for him to become a successful fanner is not considered; as long as he receives the same as a public works man doing 40 hours a week of unskilled labour he must not object. Labour's policy is unsound and impracticable in every detail, because it is hack to front. They arc starting with the wrong class. They have the farmer tied, raid the moneyed people scared to invest, which will cause a currency stagnation, and one docs not require a great deal of knowledge ou economics to realise that once money ceases to circulate a depression is inevitable. Am-red E. Allex.

Sir, —Surely the Government could have put up a more able supporter to defend the guaranteed price in Tuesday night's debate than Mr. Thorn. His contention, that factories would pay for their increased manufacturing costs through the savings effected in the reduction of agents' selling commission from per cent to 2 per cent is a most extraordinary statement. He should know that the one-half per cent saving will save the Government on commissions, but will not affect factory cost in the slightest. The Government is not keeping the promise made in Juno last by Mr. Nash to the National Dairy Association Conference, viz., that the price had been fixed on an average of eight to 10 years, with a most liberal interpretation of that and a little over. The price to be p'.id is the price over the last eight years only. Even the most rabid supporter of the present Government cannot claim it is a liberal interpretation of the muchquoted eight to 10 years' average. It will return to the farmer no more per lb. butter-fat than an efficient factory will return for the past season, while his household and farm costs are to be largely increased by recent legislation. So the loug-talked-of guaranteed price will leave the farmer in a much worse position than he would have been without it. Is it to be wondered at that many of the farmers, who were foolish enough to support a Labour Government last election are now bitterly regretting their folly, and that there is general dissatisfaction and disappointment throughout the dairy industry.. Factoby Dibectob.