POLICY UNDER REVIEW

Southland Times, Issue 24300, 4 December 1940, Page 8

POLICY UNDER REVIEW

State Control Of

Marketing

FINANCE BILL BEFORE HOUSE

(From Our Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, December 3.

The Government’s marketing policy was under review in the House of Representatives today and was subjected to considerable criticism from the Opposition. Opportunity was taken to discuss the marketing of fruit within the Dominion and on this subject the Government came in for a good deal of censure. The guaranteed price policy, on which members have not had much say for some time, was brought into prominence during the discussion in the evening of the annual report and statement of accounts of the export division of the Marketing Department. In defence of the guaranteed price the Minister of Marketing (the Hon. W. Nash) contended that the dairy farmers had been better off in the last four years under this procedure than they could have been had it not been in operation. The Finance Bill was introduced in the evening, the main feature of this measure being the section dealing with medical benefits under the Social Security Act. Amendments in the Bill repeal certain provisions in the main Act which were the subject of considerable dispute when the original Bill was before the House and the new section in itself falls very far short of the proposals originally contemplated by the Government in respect of the universal general practitioner scheme.

The Bill also contained some pensions clauses of interest to members of the Emergency Reserve Corps. It was read a first time and the House rose at 11.45 p.m.