FARMING INDUSTRY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 143, 20 June 1939, Page 7

FARMING INDUSTRY

COMMISSION PRESIDENT SIR F. FRAZER NAMED OTHER APPOINTMENTS The difficulties the Government has met in securing a suitable chairman for the commission to inquire in.o the sheep-farming inuurlry ;;c ie;.orted to have been resolve i o t . e.action of Sir Francis Frazer as j ; . ident. An announcement, is expected shortly, as the Government is anxious to have the commission begin its investigations. It is also reported that three other members of the commission will be Messrs. H. C. Todhuntcr. of Rakaia, Canterbury, Mr. H. M. Christie, of Waipawa, and Mr. R. A. Roger, of Wellington. The fourth member, who will be a more or less direct representative of the workers on the commission, is stated to be Mr. Arthur Cook of Wellington, secretary of the Gen eral Labourers’ Union. Wide Order of Reference. It is understood that the order of reference of the commission will be extremely wide and will cover every phhse of the sheep industry. The first suggestions were that the commission should deal mainly with the problems of runholdcrs on the high country of New Zealand, must of which lies in the South Island, but the Government has acceded to a request that has been general and has decided to allow the whole of the industry to be investigated. The Government has had the members of the commission in mind for some time, but has had difficulty in obtaining the services of a Supreme Court Judge to preside. Mr. Justice* Johnston was freely mentioned as a likely president because of his knowledge of the farming industry gained while administering the mortgage legislation, but it was found that he was unable, to set aside his ordinary judicial duties for the obviously long time that it will take to complete the present inquiry. All Aspects of Industry. The Government has recognised that the complaints of the sheep farmers, which have been piamiy \oiced in many parts of Nev. Zealand recently, justify a wide inquiry which will clear the air, as did the searching investigation of dairy-farming costs made in connection with the guaranteed prices scheme. It is not known yet whether the commission will be a Royal Commission or an inquiry. Farming interests have expressed then* solves as anxious for an inquiry without any preference for a commission with lhe status of a Royal Commisslen. The inquiry will include such subjects as erosion and the deterioration of land, the production of moat and wool and tho marketing of lhe products of sheep-farming. Intimate Knowledge. Those who ar? reported in have been selected for the commission all have an intimate knowledge of the industry. Mr. Todhuntcr is a prominent pastoralist in Canterbury, with particular experience of problems of the high country and of lamb production. He Is a leader of farming opinion in the South Island. Mr. Christie, who has a wide knowledge of farming, was a member of Parliament for Waipr.wa from 1935 to 1938 and represented New Zealand wool producers when he went overseas last year to assist the international Wool Secretariat. Mr. Roger !is well known as a farmer and for bis connection with land valuation for lhe Government.