WOOL BOARD TO BE FORMED

Southland Times, Issue 25533, 29 November 1944, Page 4

WOOL BOARD TO BE FORMED

Body To Supersede Council PROVISION FOR LEVY (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Nov. 28. The establishment of a New Zealand Wool Board consisting of two Government representatives, six woolgrowers’ representatives and two associate members is provided for in the Wool Industry Bill, which was introduced in the House of Representatives tonight. The associate members will be the Director-General of Agriculture and the Director of the Export Division of the Marketing Department. They are not to have voting powers. The Bill is to come into force on a date fixed by proclamation. The Bill defines a woolgrower as one carrying on business with not less titfan 100 sheep on his property and the funds of the Wool Council are to be vested in the Wool Board, the functions of which will be as follows:— (1) To take over and carry on the present functions of the Wool Council in respect of wool publicity and scientific and industrial researches into wool or sheep. (2) To act in combination with bodies having similar functions in the British Empire or elsewhere on terms of sharing costs and expenses as may be mutually agreed upon. (3) To exercise such functions in relation to production, handling, pooling, appraising, storage, distribution, marketing and the disposal of wool as may be conferred on the board by the regulations. (4) To advise the Government in relation to all or any of the foregoing matters. DEDUCTION OF LEVIES There are' a number of machinery clauses dealing with the board’s procedure. Provision is made for a levy on all wool produced in New Zealand for the purpose of providing funds for the board, the rate to be fixed by the board within the maximum prescribed by the regulations. A 10 per .cent penalty is provided for in default of payment within the period stipulated. The levies are to be deducted from account sales, an allowance being made .for the levy in all subsequent transactions between a buyer and a seller. The machinery clauses for the collection of the levy are the same as those in the Wool Industry Promotion Act, which is to be repealed. FUTUREOF WOOL INDUSTRY MINISTER QUESTIONED (P.A.) WELLINGTON, November 28. When the Wool Industry Bill was introduced in the House of Representatives today the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Holland, asked for a ministerial explanation of the nature of the Bill. Mr Holland said that wool was one of New Zealand’s foundation industries and there had been some misgivings about the future of wool. It would be of great interest to woolgrowers to know if the Government had been negotiating with the Imperial authorities for some long-term agreement for the purchase of wool as had been reached in other primary products. There had been some difficulty regarding New Zealand representation at the World Wool Conference and it would be an opportune time for the Minister to give 'some word of encouragement to the woolgrowers, who did not enjoy the security which other primary producers had. The Minister of Agriculture, • Mr Roberts, said he could not agree with Mr Holland that the woolgrowers had been “kicked about,” although the Leader of the Opposition probably did not mean that literally. Mr Holland: I meant the 15 per cent. Mr W. Sullivan (Nat., Bay of Plenty): The woolgrowers were well fleeced. Mr Roberts recalled that for some time past the growers, through the Wool Council, had made representations for a Bill such as had now been introduced, which set up a wool board comparable in its powers . with • the Meat Board. There had been some anxiety about the accumulation of wool stocks in the wool-buying countries and it was generally felt that when this Bill was passed the New Zealand representatives would have amore authoritative standing at the conference to be held in the New Year. The Bill was read a first time.