H—3o

Continuing, Mr. Fraser said he thought that letter was quite clear, and without any ambiguity. The matter would be in the hands of the Commission. As regards the legislation, this, of course, would be submitted to the Dairy Board before being introduced, and the Board would satisfy itself that the legislation contained the provisions that the Government and the industry had agreed to. That, of course, must be done, and there would be no deviation from it. The agreement had been arrived at in good faith, and both parties must be satisfied that the agreement was implemented in the legislation. They would ask the Law Drafting Office to go ahead with the job as early as possible, and it might be practicable to have the legislation brought before the House of Representatives earlier than was usual, by agreement with the Opposition. If both sides of the House agreed, the Address in Reply debate could be interrupted for that purpose. He would undertake to expedite the legislation as far as possible, and in the meantime, before it was introduced to Parliament, the draft could be approved by the Government and the Dairy. Board as embodying the agreement. The matter, in his opinion, was so important, and so momentous for the future of the industry and the country, that there was no room for any doubt whatever arising when the legislation was brought down. Any shadow of misunderstanding, even if such could arise, should be removed prior to the introduction of this legislation, but the proposals were so clear that he could not imagine any misunderstandings arising. He thought it would be a comparatively simple matter to have the proposals translated into the proper effective legislative terms. The industry had formulated a marketing scheme and part of the industry's proposals was embodied in the present Government plans. No Government or people who believed in progress could ever come to the conclusion that decisions arrived at at a particular time were necessarily final and immovable. They must be moving forward politically as well as economically. It was the duty of Governments, as of individuals, to learn from experience. He personally considered that the present proposals for partnership between the Government and the industry was a very considerable step forward in industrial democracy. Neither he nor his party had the conception of building up a bureaucratic State or even one that, with parliamentary representatives elected every three years, would leave an army of public servants to govern the people. That conception was purely imaginary. They could not possibly endure that sort of thing. If they were ever to have an industrial democracy, the people engaged in producing the wealth of the country must have some say in its production and its realization. That was the position as he saw it, and as he believed his party saw it. The proposed plan was a step forward in the right progressive direction. Whether the scheme would prove successful or not depended on the selections of members of the •Commission made by the industry and the Government. He wanted to congratulate those responsible for the drafting of the proposals, for in them they had the widest and most co-operative field for careful selection. The industry would put forward a panel of six men whom it could trust, and the Government would select three men whom it thought most suitable from among those six. The Government would inform the industry whom it wanted to appoint as its three representatives, and the industry would have the opportunity of discussing those appointments. Every effort would be made to have unity on the personnel, including the Chairman. After all, unless the Commission to be set up carried the trust of the industry and the Government, it was doomed to failure from the start, and therefore every possible effort would be made to get a body that was wholly acceptable. The Commission would; have the responsibility of fixing the guaranteed price. In that respect there would be no provision for either Governmental or Ministerial direction. The Government's election manifesto had promised an independent tribunal. Therefore, if this one body was to do the whole job, it must have the necessary, powers of a tribunal in regard to the guaranteed price. There is a provision in the agreement that if" the wheel turned as it seemed to be doing in the case of their primary products, the world markets began to fall, and if the Commission had come to the conclusion that the price it was going to fix was fair, but that the money available would not be sufficient without Government financial assistance, it would notify the Government and discuss the matter with the Government before it fixed the price. The Government would be made aware of the situation, but even then the Government would leave the responsibility for fixing the price to the common-sense and judicial capacity of the Commission. He was not going to deal with the marketing provisions to any extent, except to say that quite obviously the present Marketing Department would be used for a period, but that if the new Commission wished to reorganize, then it would be competent for if to do so. They did not want a Commission to be set up without having adequate authority, because without that it would fail in its work. The Government wanted the Commission to be set up to feel that it had full authority, subject ■only to Government policy. That policy included stabilization and overseas marketing arrangements. Until 1950 they had a Government-to-Government contract with the United Kingdom, but so far as marketing generally, subject to and within the scope of Government policy and price fixing, were concerned, those would be the responsibility of the Commission. He did not think he need say anything else, because he thought he had answered Mr. Hale's questions. Physical control of the produce, the fixing of the guaranteed price, transport arrangements, and such questions of detail as whether the price should be paid for the butter in store or f.o.b. were all to be matters for the Commission, in the same way as they had up till now been matters for the Export Marketing Department.

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