MEAT PURCHASE

Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21409, 1 May 1941, Page 12

MEAT PURCHASE

FINANCE PROPOSALS THREE CLASSIFICATIONS MATTER OF ‘EXTREME URGENCY' (Bv Telegraph.—Press Association) CHRISTCHURCH, Wednesday Requesting the Government, “as a matter of extreme urgency,” to decide and make known its policy for the disposal of meat in the coming season, and suggesting the steps to be taken, resolutions adopted at a special meeting of the Dominion executive of the Farmers’ Union last week were read to the North Canterbury executive of the union today by Mr G. C. Warren, who attended the special meeting as delegate. Classifying meat taken by the Government into “ exportable,” “eventually exportable,” and “ unexportable,” the Dominion executive proposes that exportable meat, meat exportable within the export year, should “finance itself as at present”; the purchase of eventually exportable meat should be financed by short term loans raised by the Government “from tne genuine savings of the people”; the purchase of unsaleable meat should be financed from the Consolidated Fund. Even Distribution of Loss “These proposals will fairly distribute the loss over the whole community, will avoid any inflationary effect upon our currency througn payment for that portion of the meat which is not immediately exportable, and will avoid further stimulation of the demand for goods which are not available for consumption,” said the executive’s report. Other proposals under the head of “finance” were:—That although the past season’s prices had not in all cases covered all production costs they should be taken as the basis, in view of the war situation, on the understanding that the Government took effective action to prevent further increases in costs; the Government should continue to purchase all meat offered for killing for export and the prices paid for those classes which were exportable should be on the basis of the prices paid by the British Government at present; for classes not exportable the basis should be the present price to farmers, and in both cases the actual distribution of prices over the various grades should be further considered.