WOOL AND MEAT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23320, 13 April 1939, Page 13

WOOL AND MEAT

SHEEPFARMERS SUFFER PROCEEDS COMMANDEERED MR. HAMILTON'S CONTENTION [BY TELEGRAPH—PRESS ASSOCIATION] INVERCAR&ILL, Wednesday "I have a good deal of sympathy with the spirit of that meeting," said the Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. Adam Hamilton, on his return to Invercargill to-night from South Canterbury, when commenting on a recent mass meeting of slieepfarmers held at Timaru. "When one considers the injustice of the recent act of the Government in commandeering the proceeds from the sale of his wool and meat in London," he stated, "one is forced to the conclusion that the sheepfarmer has been placed at a serious disadvantage. "The sheepfarmer has to sell his wool and meat against the competition of the world while at the same time buying his requirements in a highly protected market," Mr. Hamilton said. "Now he is being denied the further right to get even the market value of the proceeds which his produce fetches. Had the slieepfarmers been able this season to get payment for their produce in the currency of the country in which the produce was sold, mainly in London, they would undoubtedly have received an increase, perhaps to the extent of Id a lb. on their wool, and the same on their meat. Such an increase would have been of material assistance in enabling the slieepfarmers to pay their way. "The dairy farmers are in a different position, as they have a guaranteed price, for whatever it is worth to them," ho continued. "This problem may not even be of passing interest to the majority of citizens, but, when they fully realise the amount of sheep country that is being abandoned to-day and the drop in production of farm produce, their indifference will surely receive an early awakening." Mr. Hamilton added that the Government's insulation policy was, therefore, being inaugurated mainly at the expense of the sheepfarmer. Was it any wonder that he was expressing his resentment ?