GUARANTEED PRICES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23568, 3 August 1938, Page 16

GUARANTEED PRICES

ADVISORY COMMITTEE'S REPORT NO UNANIMOUS RECOMMENDATIONS A MIDDLE COURSE STEERED The Minister of Marketing (Mr W. Nash) has made available for publication the report of the Advisory Committee set up by the Government in September, 1936, to inquire into and make recommendations with respect to the guaranteec' prices to be paid for export butter and cheese for the season 1337-1938. " There has been a good deal of mis • understanding, and not a little uninformed criticism," Mr Nash says, " re garding the reasons for the non-publi-cation of the report in full From time to time information as to the general purport of the report has been given to the public and fullei details of those, portions that were of general interest nave also been made public. A question of principle was, however involved in arriving at a decision as to whether the report as a whole should be published. In the first place, the members of last year's committee were all appointed directly by the Government, which, nevertheless, took special pains to ensure that the dairying industry was fairly represented on it The members were: Sir Francis Frazer (chairman), Messrs G. A. Duncan, John Dunlop. W. E. Hale, David Jones, Arthur Morton. N. H. Moss. Ben Roberts, M.P., A. J. Sinclair and D. O. Williams. Messrs Dunlop, Hale, Morton, Roberts and Sinclair were all actively associated with the farming and manufacturing side of the dairying industry, and the remaining members of the committee had a comprehensive knowledge of the industry. "It was thought that, as the committee was set up by the Government itself, and for the sole purpose of advising and making recommendations to the Government, it might be re garded as unfair "to the members if details of the specific findings on'which they were unable to agree were made public. There was also the consideration that the Government itself had assumed the responsibility for fixing the prices to be paid., It did not bind itself in advance to accept even a unanimous recommendation from the committee, nor did it. indicate that it would accept any one of a number of conflicting recommendations. All it was pledged to do was to examine fully and carefully the recommendation or recommendations submitted to it, and then to decide whether it would accept any particular recommendation, or adopt a different figure altogether. Three Recommendations "As is now generally known, the committee was unable to arrive at a unanimous recommendation as to prices: in fact, three separate recommendations were submitted. Each was supported by reasons in its favour, and I am perfectly satisfied that each section of the committee honestly and in all good faith was convinced of the soundness of its position. The fact that on many important points the members were unanimous, and that on a number of other points eight out of the 10 members were in is eloquent proof of the earnest desire of all the members to assist the Government and the industry by endeavouring to attain unanimity wherever possible. « "As a matter of fact, the recommendations of the three sections of the committee as to the basic guaranteed price of butter varied within a very narrow margin. Five members recommended 13.16 d per lb, three recommended 13.57 d per lb, and two recommended 13.81 d per lb. There was less than two-thirds of a penny between the highest figure and the lowest figure. The Government did not adopt any one of the prices recommended, but decided to fix a middle price of 13.25 d per lb. A Departmental Committee

" In its essentials, the committee was a departmental committee, with a number of co-opted members added. There is nothing unusual—in fact, it is the regular practice—to regard the reports and recommendations of such committees as confidential, for they are obtained only for the guidance of the Government. A tribunal sot up to make a final and binding decision is in an entirely different category. In the circumstances that I have outlined, and bearing in mind the purpose for which and the manner in which the committee was set up, can it be fairly said that the Government acted improperly in treating this particular report as confidential, more especially when its publication would involve the exposure of the views and reasons of individual members, honestly and fairly stated, to criticism and make them the subject of political controversy? I think not. "The Government has, however, now decided that, with the passage of time, the objections to the publication of the full report have become less weighty than they were some months ago. I understand, too. that the members of the committee offer no opposition to its publication. "I am also making available the interim report of the committee, which was forwarded to the Government on April 19, 1937 This report dealt with the question of increasing the price ol cheese in relation to that of butter, and recommended that the price of cheese should be fixed so as to enable efficient cheese factory companies to make to their suppliers a marginal payment for butter-fat of 2d per lb in excess of the payment for butterfat made by correspondingly efficient butter. factory companies operating under comparable conditions. This interim report was unanimous and was adopted by the Government, and for those reasons it was made available to the press at the time. Additional Payments " Within the last few weeks," concluded Mr Nash, " the Government announced that, because of the increase in farm costs and because of other difficulties with which dairy farmers had been faced during the present season, it would increase tor the whole manufacturing season 1937-38 the guaranteed prices fixed by it for exoort butter and cheese by 41d and 21d per lb respectively, and would provide for the payment of similar increases in respect of butter and cheese sold for local consumption These additional payments are approximately equivalent to a further payment to suppliers for butter-fat of id per lb for the season."