DOMINION PRODUCE.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VII, Issue 2027, 13 August 1920, Page 6

DOMINION PRODUCE.

IMPERIAL COMMANDEER. PAYMENTS NOT YET CEASED. [From Our Own Parliamentary Reporter.] WELLINGTON, August 12. Up to June 30, 1920, New Zealand producers had received, for produce commandeered by the Imperial Government for War and post-War purposes, a total of £141,080,297. That fact was disclosed by a paper which was laid on the table of the House of Representatives to-day. The Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. W. F. Massey), who presented the paper, said that, of course, payment had not yet ceased, for some produce was still to go away, and only advances had been made on some of that. Mr E. Newman (Manawatu) considered that the facts disclosed in the report showed the vital importance of the farming industry to New Zealand.

"Prime Products Tied Up." Dr H. T. J. Thacker (Christchurch East) protested against the manner in which "our prime products have been tied up to the workers of this country." Meat and cheese had been allowed to go bad in store, while butter had been shipped Home and brought back again, because the price at Home was not suitable; and all the burden of lhat waste had fallen upon the workers of the Dominion. Those workers should have had their foodstuffs at the export price. He saw nothing to boast of in this £141,000,000, a large part of which had gone into the pockets of the few, and not of the. working farmers. The Hon. J. G. Coates (PostmasterGeneral): They tell us you are a landlord! Dr Thacker: I am, and if you can find one of my tenants who disagrees with my policy I will amend it. (Laughter.) Good Thing for the Country.

Mr A. D. McLeod (Wairarapa) claimed that Dr Thacker's remarks had been misleading. Looking over the export figures for the past, they saw an increase in the annual value of £12,500,000 from 1904 to 1009. In the next five years, the annual value of the Dominion's exports had advanced bv £20000,000, and they might have looked for a further natural increase in the War years, so that the extra profit to the farmers was considerably lessened. Again, it was further reduced by the increased cost of labour and farming supplies. He admitted that the farmers had done well—but it was a very fortunate thing for the country that the farmers bad done well, else the country would have suffered a slump from which it could not recover in a generation. He found that meat could not be retailed over the butcher's counter at less than 100 per cent, advance on the price on the farm. In manufactured articles, which sold at high prices, the big profit did not go to the primary producer. What Mr Lysnar Did.

Mr W. D. Lysnar (Gisborne) declared that the commandeer had beon in no way responsible for Ihe high cost of living. Meat was available from the freezing stores to the New Zealand consumer at the export price, but the" cost of delivery and butchers' bad debts put the price up to the general public. The Imperial Government had used the profits which it made from the sale of New Zealand meat to pay a higher price for Argentine meat, which was a poorer article. As to butter, the producer, after allowing himself labourer's wages, received only a bare return,but the Imperial Govern" ment had allowed someone at Home to make 9d per lb on that butter. \ similar thing had happened with regard to wool. It was not the British people generally that benefited by the commandeer, but particularly the manufacturing firms. After the Armistice he had not submitted any more of his wool for Government valuation. While the War was on, he had readily placed his wool under commandeer, but, after the Armistice, he had taken .this stand.

Mr 11. E. Holland (Buller): Briefly, you declared a strike! Mr Lysnar: Briefly, I declared a strike. (Loud laughter.) No; it wasn't a strike—l withdraw that. Dr H. T. J. Thacker (Christchurch East): It was a go-sjow. Mr Lvsnar: No! It was not a goslow either.

Mr P. Fraser (Wellington Central): You were a conscientious objector! Mr Lysnar protested that he was nothing of the sort. As a matter of fact, he was observing the letter of the law, which, he claimed, did not require him to submit his wool to valuation after the Armistice. He and those other growers who were holding their later clips were the only men who were really observing the law.

Waiting for the Proper Time, Dr Thacker: What are you going to do with it? Mr Lysnar replied that, at the right and proper time, he was going to send his wool Home lo sell it. An hon. member: Have you the Prime Minister's permission? Mr Lysnar: I'm not going to ask the Prime Minister for permission to sell ray wool! When the time comes, I'm going to sol! it! He added that, after the Armistice, he objected to selling his wool at under the market value, for the benefit of manufacturing concerns which were making huge profits. Great Benefit to Dominion. Mr Massey said that he had had more experience of the commandeer than most. On the whole, it had been of great benefit to New Zealand. What would have happened had they not been able to export all this produce? It would have been impossible to keep it all for the local market. The country could not then have carried on through the War. By sending produce Home, the best thing had been done for all classes—not the primary producers alone. Very little produce had gone wrong in store. There was not a single box of butter shipped to the Imperial Government and back again to New Zealand, though there had been one such happening before the War. The real cause of the high cost of living! in New Zealand was the high price of imports, and not of the homegrown article. Dr Thacker: What about hides and wool? We grow these, and still have to pay £l4 14/- for a suit of clothes. Drop in Wool and Hides. Mr Massey said that it mattered not what they paid for a suit of clothes, wool and hides had dropped. That drop might not yet be apparent in

the manufactured article. It might take months to affect a suit of clothes, but the tendency was downwards. If they had kept a larger part of their produce in the Dominion, prices here would have been lower, but the people would not have had the money to pay even those reduced prices. The commandeer had benefited the whole of the people of New Zealand, and not one class alone. Had not that money come into the Dominion, they would have been in very serious straits during the War period. He hoped that the next five years in New Zealand would be as prosperous as the last five. Loss on American Meat. Mr Massey said that he wished \o correct one point mentioned by the hon. member for Gisborne. It was ouite true that the profit on New Zealand meat had been taken by the Imperial Authorities to make up the loss on American meat, but it was meat from the United States, and not the Argentine. The loss had been made upon beef and bacon from the United States.

Mr Lysnar: But it went from tlio Argentine to the United States. The Prime Minister was unable to say that that had not been the case, but the meat had been shipped from the United States to Great Britain—and wretchedly poor stuff it was.. So far as wool was concerned, the ho». member for Gisborne was within his rights, but whether he had done wisely remained to be seen—that was his business. Undoubtedly, very big profits had been made out of New Zealand wool, but a portion of those profits' was coming back lo the Dominion. Wool had been sold to the Imperial Government at below its market value,, but, unless the Imperial Government had become responsible for shipping and storage, New Zealand would have been unable to get rid of the wool. He would suggest to the wool growers that they should put their receipts from the Imperial half profits into the Government loan.