DENMARK CONDITIONS

Waikato Times, Volume 114, Issue 19054, 19 September 1933, Page 5

DENMARK CONDITIONS

HELPING THE FARMERS. THREAT BY AGRICULTURISTS. TO DEPRECIATE EXCHANGE RATE United Press Assn. —Elec. Tel. Copyright. LONDON, Aug. 18. According to a message from Copenhagen to the Financial Times, the Danish agriculturists are threatening to effect a renewed depreciation of the krone exchange rate on London by withholding the sterling proceeds of pryducts sold in England. q'hough the Danish Government, a Socialist Administration, has done a good deal to help the farming community, whose difficulties under the great depression have been enormous, agricultural interests still claim that they have a grievance. The measures taken by the Government during the past year to help the farmer include the destruction of cattle and the distribution of free meat to the unemployed, so as to raise the price of meat; the regulation of pig production, so as to raise the price of pork and bacon; the passage of a moratorium law to protect farmers from foreclosure; the depreciation of the Danish krone by about 20 per cent below sterling, in order to increase the kroner yield of produce exported to Great Britain. Serious Threats. But the 'farmer, and particularly the farmer of South Jutland —or North Schleswig, as it was known when under German domination —remains unappeased. Leaders of a radical farmers’ organisation, very strongly entrenched in South Jutland, are threatening to withhold their milk—and hence, their cream and butter—from the market. What is more serious, they are also threatening to take action to bring the krone rate on London down to 30 to the pound, as compared with the present stabilisation level of 22.50. The Government, naturally, refuses to give way to this form of dictation. It has warned the farmers that it intends to take every step to protect the present level of the currenoy. Moreover, it has advised the farmers that any further depreciation of the local currency might well oompel the British Government to apply antidumping provisions against Danish exports. Withholding Sterling Proceeds. The suggestion is that the farmers should withhold the sterling proceeds of products sold in England for as long a period as possible. The cheques derived from sales of this produce would simply be put away for the maximum period the farmer can stand. As roughly 80 per cent of Danish exports are agricultural produce, and about 75 per cent of this goes to Great Britain, it is not difficult to see that the withholding of foreign exchange by the farming community even for a week would make a great difference to the country’s exchange reserves. It is not the first time the farmers have brought pressure of this kind on the Government, and up to the present they have been fairly successful.