SUBSTANTIAL CLAIM

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 70, 6 May 1946, Page 5

SUBSTANTIAL CLAIM

SUM OF £4,000,000 FIGHTING ON PRINCIPLE Brief reference to the case in connection with local butter marketing', in which the dairy industry claims that the Government has no right to use industry monies to hold the cost of butter sold in New Zealand, was made by Mr A. Linton, ActingChairman of the New Zealand Dairy Board, when he addressed the East Coast Ward Conference at Whakatane last Wednes-

day. “As the Commission of Inquiry has not yet made its decision in connection with local marketing known,” said Mr Linton, “the matter is really sub judice, and I cannot comment on the facts brought forward to any extent. Broadly speaking the industry is fighting for a principle, that where the local consumer is to be subsidised, that subsidy should come from the people of the country as a whole, and not from the pockets of the producers. Our contention was that if the Government policy was to hold down the price of butter on the local market to the extent of pence per pound, the money required for doing the job should come from the Consolidated Fund and not from dairy industry funds, because the special lump sum payments made for meeting Stabilisation costs, are paid into the Consolidated Fund. The Board was determined to fight for that principle and its case was most ably put by the counsel it engaged. A very large sum of money is involved—several million pounds over the four year period—and we have done the very best we could, on your behalf.”