FARMERS’ TROUBLES

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 59, Issue 4218, 1 December 1939, Page 4

FARMERS’ TROUBLES

DAIRY COUNCIL’S COMPLAINT. VIEW THAT IT WAS NOT REALLY CONSULTED. FIXATION OF PRICES. “In short we were told that the Government would take over all produce at a price which it alone would consider and determine without consideration of increases in cost or regard to the provisions of the Primary Products Marketing Act,” said Mr W. Marshall, after reviewing in detail the negotiations between the Dairy Industry Council and the Government for the payments for dairy produce for the current season in an address to the conference of the New Zealand Dairy Board in Wellington on Wednesday. “Having regard to all that has transpired, the council does not consider that it has really been consulted on the matters which have been dealt with,” Mr Marshall said. “To consult can be said, according to the dictionary, to be ‘to take counsel with, or seek advice from’; and in no sense of the word can this be said to describe what has taken place. There have been interviews and discussions but it appears that the Minister had made up his mind before war was declared that, in spite of increases in costs which had taken place since last year’s price was decided on, we would have to accept last year’s figures; further, that the increase that would occur during the current year as a result of war conditions did not in any way affect the decision which he had made.

“We have all along contended that the prices we are receiving are insufficient,” Mr A. Morton said. “Though we were asked by the Minister for suggestions, not one of those we made was ever given heed to by the Minister.”

Speakers expressed appreciation of the work done by the Dairy Industry Council and conference passed a motion approving its fictions.