MARKET GARDENERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25172, 12 March 1943, Page 2

MARKET GARDENERS

REGISTRATION BILL BEFORE HOUSE APPROVAL BY OPPOSITION (F.0.P.R.) WELLINGTON, Mar. 11. Opposition approval of the Commercial Gardens Registration Bill was expressed during the second reading debate on tne Bill in the House of Representatives tonifhe Minister of Agriculture. Mr J. G. Barclay, who was in charge of the Bill, said the measure was desired not only by the gardeners themselves, but also by the department. It was intended to do a good deal of planning in the production of vegetables to feed the people of this country and the troops in the Pacific area, and it was necessary to know what acreage was in commercial gardens. Mr J. A. Lee (Dem. Lab., Grey Lynn): Why not registration without a big fee? The Minister said it was necessary for the commercial gardeners’ organisation to have a fee. If the number of gardeners and the acreage under cultivation were known, there would be no need for the Bill. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr S. G. Holland, said that when the Bill was first introduced'he had regarded it with a good deal of suspicion, but after giving it close scrutiny he had found that his' early fears were ■ unfounded. If the Opposition thought the Bill meant more interference with industry, more State control, or the strengthening of the frip of the Marketing Department, then it would oppose the -measure whole-heartedly. The Bill gave no more power over the vegetable growers and the distribution of their produce than there was before it was introduced. In those circumstances the measure seemed reasonable. The Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, said there was one thing he would like to point out to the people of New Zealand, and that was that if they were Rooking for cheapness In vegetables in the future they were seeking something that was impossibe if the vegetable growers themselves were to be assured of a living. The country could not afford to have a sweated market gardening industry. Mr J. A. Lee (Dem. Lab., Grey Lynn) said the Bill allowed of compulsory unionism, which, he said, had done more to destroy the health and vigour of unionism than anything else the Government had done. Mr H. S. S. Kyle (Ind., Riccarton) said he had received a telegram from the Canterbury Tomato and Stone Fruit Growers’ Association opposing the Bill. He feared it was not going to be any more beneficial than the Poultry Registration Act. It meant more regimentation and was certainly compulsory unionism. Several members on both sides of the House spoke in support of the measure, which was then read a second time.