PRICES AND COSTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 80, Issue 24746, 20 November 1943, Page 8

PRICES AND COSTS

IRATE FRUITGROWERS "INDUSTRY FOOLED AGAIN" (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Friday The New Zealand Fruitgrowers' Federation in reply to the statement made by the deputy-Prime Minister, the Hon.iW. Nash, regarding fruit prices and costs of production, says: "Mr. Nash's promise to set up another committee of inquiry into the pip fruit industry is ludicrous. Since the Government came into power the following commissions of inquiry have already sat: —19:36, the Coleman Commission; 1937, the Departmental Commission; 1939, the Picot Commission; and, 1943, the Stabilisation Commission. "In addition, the Government's own body, the National Fruit AdvisoryBoard, has recently reported 011 the alarming decline in production throughout New Zealand. Another survey of the industry will only cover the ground already fully explored, and to judge by yesterday's interview with Ministers of the Crown they will not take notice of the report anyway. "The directors' of the federation were definitely led to believe that the Stabilisation Commission was to inquire into the whole cost of production, and at the request of the Stabilisation Commission the federation prepared and presented its evidence. Now the commission reports on increased costs, the only matter which has never been in dispute. "When fruit was originally purchased by the Government on the outbreak of war, the price offered was at least lOd a case below the cost of production, but was accepted as a temporary expedient, as was explained to Mr. Nash repeatedly. To continue to build the price on that temporary foundation is futile. The industry has been fooled again, and there is a feeling that even the Ministers themselves may have been misled bv their own officers."

REPLY BY MINISTER STATE AND INDUSTRY EQUITABLE OFFER MADE (P.A.) WELLINGTON. Friday Commenting on the statement of the Fruitgrowers' Federation, the deputyPrime .Minister, the Hon. W. Nash, said that, while recognising the great importance of the production of fruit in New Zealand, it was necessary to consider the affairs of the industry in relation to the economic position of New Zealand as a whole and to ensure that it was seen in proper perspective. The position was that prior to the outbreak of war the industry was in receipt of a State guarantee in regard to its exports, said Mr. Nash. At the outbreak of war. when the export markets vanished, the industry was guaranteed an average return of 5s a case, increased to os 3d average for the 1941 and 1942 seasons. Assistance given to the industry in 1941 amounted to £'loß,ooo, and the following year the assistance was continued, the cost to the Government being £1.10,000. Last season negotiations concerning prices were proceeding when the Prime Minister announced the general scheme of economic stabilisation. Special consideration was. however, given to the financial position of the fruit industry, and additional cost allowances were granted which had the effect of improving the growers' position for_ last season as compared with the earlier years of the war, and probably placing the industry as a whole in as good a position as it was in prewar years, continued Mr. Nash. During the past year under stabilisation growers' costs had been firmly held, and at an interview which took place on _ Thursday lie indicated additional assistance which the Government was prepared to give for the coming season, the effect of which would give growers a higher return a case than they obtained last year. All inquiries which had been made into the_ affairs of the_ industry proved that quite a substantial proportion of the crops marketed were produced on a payable economic basis, concluded the Minister, and the economic survey which wasnow offered was not merely a further inquiry, but had for its definite objective the placing of the uneconomic portion of the industrv on a satisfactory basis. It _ was considered that under war conditions, within the framework of the economic policy which aimed at holding costs and prices, the offer made by the Government was an equitable one,

EFFECT ON PRODUCTION SMALLER ORCHARDS LIKELY The opinion that the new Government prices for pip fruit would result in still more growers cutting out their trees was expressed by the Auckland manager of the Fruitgrowers' Federation, .Mr. S. Conway, yesterday. Growers generally, he said, were disappointed at the price offered for the coming season's crops of apples and pears. When growers accepted os a case early in the war, after the export market had been lost, the price had no relation to costs of production. 'I he price of (3s sought by growers was based on costs at 300 cases to the acre, said Mr. Conway, but other orcliardists, particularly in the Auckland district, had a lower yield, with higher costs. These were probably the uneconomic orchards referred to by the Hon. W. Nash. If growers were expected to produce under present conditions. with prices fixed well under production costs, lie concluded, many orcliardists would probably remove their trees and change over to other forms of production, o r to more profitable fruit lines. FISHING AT TAUPO <G;C.) _ _ TAUPO, Friday The condition of the trout this season is very good, especially when compared with last season. Although the weather lately has been poor for fishing, being too humid and calm, very few anglers have been disappointed with their catches. The prospects for the season are more promising than they have been for several years. STOLE TUNIC ANI) MONEY (0.C.) WHAN OAR EI, Friday Pleading guilty to the theft of a military tunic and £lO 10s in money, Joel Steven Maunsell, a Maori, aged '23, was placed on probation for 12 months bv Mr. Raymond Ferner, S.M., to-day. The terms of the probation were that accused was to repay the money stolen within one month, to take out a prohibition order and to accept and remain in full-time employment as directed by the probation officer. Senior-Sergeant A. Henderson said that a Maori soldier on leave took off his tunic in a billiard saloon in Whangarei, placing it on a seat. When he returned for his tunic it was missing as well as the money. Police inquiries led to the discovery of the tunic in accused's possession, but the money had not been recovered.