FARMERS’ GRIEVANCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25135, 28 January 1943, Page 4

FARMERS’ GRIEVANCE

THE PRICE» OF WOOL FURTHER ACTION PROPOSED “ There is no intention on the part of the Otago Farmers’ Union to allow the matter to rest at the present impasse,” Mr A. C. Cameron said yesterday, when commenting on the action of the New Zealand Government in retaining a portion of the additional 15 per cent, on the price of wool which ' was granted Jjy the Imperial Government to offset the increased cost of production owing to war conditions. Mr Cameron added that the New. Zealand Government, which was withholding 5 per cent, of this increase, had also retained 5 per cent, of the purchase price of each wool clip until the end of the season, more or less as an equalisation fund, and this sum had been repaid at the end of the season. There was now a suggestion from the Government that an additional 5 per cent, of the increase should be withheld indefinitely. The attitude of the farmers generally, Mr Cameron said, was that the money which was paid in good faith by the Imperial Government should be passed on to the farmers who provided the wool. The Otago branches principally concerned were emphatic that a grave injustice had been done, and that every legitimate step should be taken to have it rectified. Many individual farmers advocated “direct action,” and no doubt this attitude had been prompted by the obvious success of coal-miners *and others in securing their demands in this way. Two wrongs did not make a right, however, and the majority of the sheep farmers were opposed to anything in the nature of a strike or a refusal to pay Crown rents during the progress of the war. The Dominion Executive of the Farmers’ Union and the Sheep Owners’ Federation had made strong representations to the Government, Mr Cameron said, but so far without any noticeable effect upon its policy. Further representations would be made at the next council meeting of the Otago Farmers’ Union in February, and if these failed, it was probable that a mass deputation to the Government would be arranged. “Indirectly,” Mr Cameron said, “the Government’s action in withholding this wool money is affecting the war effort, because so long as the farmers labour under a definite sense of grievance they will not pull their full weight in providing the little extra in the way of production which is so badly needed at the present time.” This did not mean that,the majority of the farmers were unpatriotic, he added, as many were working long hours .with totally inadequate assistance in order to keep their production at the former level.