PAYMENT OF SUBSIDIES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25866, 9 June 1945, Page 3

PAYMENT OF SUBSIDIES

Sir,—l noticed that Mr Lee, in his presidential address, made pointed reference to the payment of £8,000,000 (in the aggregate) by way of subsidy to control prices. He went on to say that apart from " a substantial, sum received by the fertiliser industry, he could not recall any' other subsidy from which farmers benefited as an individual section of the community."

Apparently Mr Lee’s memory is very short. Otherwise he could not have overlooked the subsidy paid to the wheatgrowers for many years to cover the gap between the cost of growing wheat and making their ends meet. In the aggregate this- has run into a million or so. But perhaps wheatgrowers are not farmers and they therefore do not count with Mr Lee- -

But surely subsidies paid over the war years to'.keep down the price of sugar has-benefited farmers to the same degree as . other members of the community. Farmers, in.the main, like sugar and the items Vof domestic economy in which sugir part. This applies to bread,, to-flour;’-to oatmeal, and so forth. It- is admitted "that most farmers run a cow dr v S6, but they do also buy butter by the pat and cheese by the pound and the fact that these important items are fixed at a price lower than anywhere else in tWe world must be an advantage to the " ends meet ” side of their accounts.

Surely, Sir, after fighting the worst half of an " all-in ” war, our farmer friends realise that there is no such thing as a sectional interest left. New Zealand is a nation to-day and the needs of all people are the concern of all the people.—l am, etc., The Other Side.