§ 44. Mr. de Freitasasked the Minister of Agriculture whether he will introduce legislation so that in any future marketing scheme poll the views of the small farmers shall be adequately represented.
§ Sir T. DugdaleNo, Sir. I see no reason to think that the present Acts fail to provide for adequate representation of the views of small farmers.
§ Mr. de FreitasIs the Minister aware that in the recent fruit poll the views of the majority of farmers failed merely because the minority comprised farmers with the larger area?
§ Sir T. DugdaleNo, I do not accept that. Only about 11,000 out of 17,000 registered producers voted. Had the small producers voted for the scheme in large numbers it would probably have gone through.
§ Mr. de FreitasWould the Minister accept my supplementary if instead of "the majority of farmers" I said that the majority of those voting failed against a minority who voted because that minority had the larger area?
§ Sir T. DugdaleNo, I cannot accept that. The present legislation on this point has been approved by all parties and I think it would be the greatest mistake to alter it. A two-thirds majority, in both numbers and acreage, is required in respect of any particular commodity. I believe that that is sufficient in the interests of all concerned.
§ Mr. G. BrownWas not the real trouble with the recent scheme that even had it gone through it would not have been a marketing scheme, so it did not attract anybody's attention?