FRUIT PRICES

New Zealand Herald, Volume 80, Issue 24748, 23 November 1943, Page 2

FRUIT PRICES

The breach between the Government and the Fruitgrowers' Federation grows wider. The main point of difference is painfully familiar to all who have watched the relationship between (he Government and various classes of producer. A price has been sot for the pip fruits to be harvested litis season. It, is approximately 7 .Id a case lower than the rate claimed by the growers and asserted by them to be little more than the cost of production. Therefore they have protested bitterly. The Government, through the de-puty-Prime Minister, insists in reply that the price offered is economic, and, on the authority of the Stabilisation Commission, more than compensates for increases in costs since 1930. Those are the main lines of the dispute. If is impossible to decide the merits of the case for lack of evidence. A disquieting feature, however, is the danger that another section of the primary producers may fall victim to a feeling

of injustice and a sense of frustration because of their treatment by the Government. The fruitgrowers would be more than human if they did not contrast Mr. Nash's dogmatic assertiveness in disputing their arguments with the mild and conciliatory tone the Government uses when dealing with powerful industrial unions and organisations. The fruitgrowing industry can hardly be in the favourable position Mr. Nash suggests when, as official figures show, the area in commercial orchards has fallen from 25,000 acres in 1935-36 to 19,500 in 1941-42. When the world calls again for the output of New Zealand orchards, if the answer is not forthcoming because the growers have been antagonised and disheartened to the point of giving up the struggle, the Government will have a grave indictment to answer. A little more sympathy and understanding now might return a rich dividend in the future.