The Bay of plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, OCT. 18th, 1939. DAIRY PRODUCE PRICES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 76, 18 October 1939, Page 4

The Bay of plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, OCT. 18th, 1939. DAIRY PRODUCE PRICES

THE fighting mood displayed by speakers at the Farmers Union conference at Edgecumbe, serves to indicate that dairymen as a whole are far from satisfied with the present state of affairs. Straight talk, as everyone knows is the farmers privilege, and no normal meeting would be complete without some acid reference to the Government in power. However last Thursday's meeting seemed to be almost entirely devoted to criticism of the present policy adopted for the production, and disposal of our primary produce. At times the note struck, was definitely belligerent, and there could be no question but that the matter was an urgent one, the repercussions of which were running much deeper than the usual Union Remits which came up for discussion. If the opinion of Bay of Plenty farmers can be taken as an example of the reaction of primary producers the Dominion over then we can assume that the unrest is fairly general and that remedial measures must be quickly employed to preserve the balance of the industry. The difficulties at present facing the farmer, are chiefly the labour shortage, and the apparent inequality of the guaranteed price. In the face of this and the appeal to produce still more, as an effort to prosecute the war to a sucessful conclusion, the . * • • • farmer feels that he is in an impossible position,

If the quantity of butter shipped from New Zealand this season equals that shipped last year, 122,356 tons, its sale at the present maximum fixed price of 145s in Britain would leave the Da'iry Industry Account with a surplus of £2,500, 000 after the payment of the present guaranteed price. By a similar process of reckoning cheese will yield a surplus of £1,600,000, so that on this basis there would be a total surplus at the end of the season of £4,100,000. Even after the extinguishment of last season's deficit there would be a substantial balance. Of course these figures may have to be adjusted according- to Britain's purchasing price and the arrangement between the two countries. If, as Mr. Nash says, the Government has no intention of making a profit for itself from the transaction, why should 'it not make a more adequate payment to a hard-pressed industry, with consequent benefit to the whole country, instead of allowing a large sum to lie idle in the Dairy Industry Account?