PRICE GUARANTEE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19044, 18 June 1936, Page 5

PRICE GUARANTEE

DAIRY PRODUCE ONLY

PLAN FOR PRESENT TIME

QUESTION OF EXCESS

CREDIT TO INDUSTRY

(Per Press Association.) . HASTINGS, this, day.

The statement, that the Government had no intention of dealing with anything but dairy produce during the present season in connection with its export marketing principles was made to' the National Dairy Association's conference in Hastings yesterday afternoon by the Minister of Finance, the,Hon. W. Nash.

'«'One great object we set out to achieve was the removal, for all time, of the fear of price falls and the ecstasies of price rises," he said. Or course, the farmer does not mind the O&tasies, but there often are very unfortunate sequels, and it is to avoid these that the Government policy will strive to accomplish."

'He had been reminded, he added, of Diekens' "Great Expectations." He did. not know whether these expectations would be realised, nor could he tell what the price this year would be, but it would be more than the price obtained last year, or the year before, or the year before that.

Dealing with the provisions of the Act, Mr. Nash said the Marketing Department would ultimately take contrql of the marketing of all primary produce. That did not mean that meat and wool would be taken in now, or at jatJV time in the immediate future,-but when the imperative need of such control had been proved, the same procedure as had been applied to dairy produce could be applied to other products.

• FRUIT GROWERS ANXIOUS People at the head of the fruitgrowing industry, said Mr. Nash, had already expresses their anxiety that the same procedure should be made to apply to the export of fruit. He had answered that he would discuss the request next year, as it was not the GoverUment 's intention to include any produce other than butter and cheese uu/der the Act this year. ' 'The existing meat and fruit boards would bo used as machinery for putting into operation the-marketing system as it would apply to" the fruit arid meat industries.

;-'The great question was, where was the Government going to get the money? Mr, Nash continued. Before passing of the Act, he had discUßsed the financial aspects with Mr. Leslie Lefeaux, the director of the Reserve Bank, and had arranged for ■whatever money might be necessary to enable the dairy export policy of the .Government to be put into effect. There would be in the Reserve Bank an account into which all money for guaranteed prices would be paid, and into which the proceeds from the sale of overseas would be paid. '

RESULTS IN TOOLEY STREET :y "All that could bo done at this end, and : if it were to be successful, the scnemc must be supplemented at the other end, and not solely by Tooley Street. So far as the Tooley Street merchants were concerned, they would obtain the most profitable results by co-operating with the New Zealand government, and the Government had not had a word that they were unwilling to do 80.

f.They would have to carry out their iMrketing in accordance with the Government's intentions. Then they would be paid as well as it was humanly possible to pay them for their services.

The dairy export policy, continued the speaker, could not be put into effect unless the Government could establish reciprocal trading agreements with the British Government. /Under the new methods of marketing, it would be possible for him to say to -the, British Government:—

"We «an produce 150,000 tons of butter. We have taken every step to ensure, its uniform and maximum quality. We can let you have it at the minimum price, according- to what the farmer ought to be paid for the work of producing it, and we agree $o- take 'from you goods to the value "of what we receive for our butter.

, ; . CREDITS FOR BUYING . ''You take this £15,000,000 worth of butter from us, and we will in turn, after provision for interest and for redemption of the debt we owe you, use the money in Britain for buying what we want." ;-Those principles, said Mr. Nash, would be in being among all countries within the next- 10 years. "That may mean," Mr. Nash added, "that our produce will be taken nowhere «lse, but I won't worry. It may mean we will have to take all our cotton goods from Britain and not, say, from Japan."

If there were products that might be brought into being in New Zealand and that were not wanted by Britain, then the Government would make bilateral agreements with countries that would take those products. Going on to speak of his conception of the world as one economic unit, Mr. Nash said the rest of the world could not keep Germany, or Japan, or India, on a lower level than itself. "If we have resources that are not available to other countries," he saidj "thenwe must make bilateral 'agreements with those countries." He had been asked whether, if the prices realised were greater than t)he guaranteed prices, the excess would etong to the farmer or to the Gov- • eminent. As Mr. Savage had said, the Government did not want to make a profit but of any industry. If there • were any excess, it would be credited to the dairy industry account and be used for the benefit of the industry. Why not a bonus? he had been ask"ed. Tb>re would be no bonus. He could say, however, that the excess, if any, would not be used without consultation' with representatives of" the industry. Under the policy pf, the Government no section of the community would benefit at the expense of another section. The Government was trying, to ensure that every man on the land, every man on the waterfront, and every clerk in an S office was paiu a legitimate share of -Jtfce wealth he brought into the coun-

In answer to a question which dealt with the possibility that men offered 16s a day on public works would not be willing to work on farms and that consequently farm labour might be difficult to engage, Mr. Nash said the Government was acting in the matter. It was ensuring that farm labour would be available, and the rates of pay had already been' determined. It meant that if work were not available on public works and farm labour were available, men refusing to accept farm work would not be paid sustenance.