A PERNICIOUS PROPOSAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24304, 19 June 1942, Page 2

A PERNICIOUS PROPOSAL

A suggestion lias been made by the Minister of Marketing that part of the woolgrowers' earnings should be withheld from them and retained by the Government to safeguard them in the event of difficulties after the war. The principle of putting aside something against a rainy day is, of course, excellent. So is the idea of temporarily freezing part of the wartime flood of purchasing power by compulsory saving in order to reduce the risk of inflation. But if the principle be adopted, it should be applied universally. Mr. Barclay proposes to inflict it on woolgrowers only. Such discrimination cannot be justified. They do not comprise the only section that may require financial reserves after the war, nor is their increment of 15 per cent the sole contribution to increasing purchasing power. Actually woolgrowers have been pinned down to fixed prices for three years and left to carry the rises in living and production costs. They will not begin to receive their higher earnings for wool until the end of November. Meanwhile the workers and many other classes in the community have received two bonuses. When they were awarded, neither Mr. Barclay nor the Government proposed retaining part of the higher earnings to tide over post-war difficulties, while the risks of inflation were ignored. Yet these widespread increments added far more to purchasing power than that the woolgrowers expect to receive for next season's clip. An ugly feature of the Minister's proposal is that he backs it with a suggestion of mulcting meat producers if woolgrowers do not prove submissive. To complete this most unjust proposal, Mr. Barclay announces that wool required for the local market will not share in the increment. A whole crop of inequalities will grow out of this item alone.