GUARANTEED PRICE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23884, 11 August 1939, Page 7

GUARANTEED PRICE

MR MULHOLLAND’S STATEMENT “MISREPRESENTED BY PRESS” SCHEME NOT CONDEMNED “In view of misquotations in the press, I think this letter should be given wide publicity,” stated Mr D. H. Cockburn at the quarterly meeting yesterday of the Otago Provincial Council of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union, when consideration was being given to a letter from the Dominion secretary (Mr A. P. O’Shea) setting out what was claimed to be the true facts of Mr W. W. Mulholland’s statement in regard to the guaranteed price. “ I have followed Mr Mulholland’s statements very carefully,” added Mr W. Lee, endorsing the letter’s contents, “ and he has at no time condemned the guaranteed price as it applies to the dairying industry.” Mr Mulholland’s Views Mr O’Shea’s letter said that the Dominion president’s statement had been greatly distorted and misrepresented. What Mr Mulholland had actually said was that he personally would welcome the return to the industry of the control of marketing; that he assumed that if the Government did decide to hand back the control of the scheme to the industry it would also give the industry facilities for credit, mass marketing, etc., to carry on a similar scheme; and that, if Mr Savage decided to go ahead with? the proposal to end the scheme, that he should call a conference of representatives of the industry in order that the position might be thoroughly discussed. No Attack Made “It should be noted,” Mr O’Shea added, “that the Dominion president made no attack on the guaranteed price scheme, and the tenor of his statement was in the direction of suggesting that, if the Government decided to make any alteration in the scheme, a conference of all interested parties should be called as soon as possible.”