DAIRY TRADE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 289, 26 August 1918, Page 8

DAIRY TRADE

A REVIEW

: _ "Considerable interest is at present being evidenced in the balance-sheets of the various dairy companies - operating in 1 . this and adjneont districts," 6ays tho Pa- : hiatua "Herald." "In view of the fact ; that the success of the dairy farming ; community means also the success of ' the townsman, this is only natural. Tho ; highest price paid up to <lato is Is. lid. ' per lb. ior butter-fat, this being by the : llangaraniarama Cheese Factory. It is, however, only fair to point out thflt this fine price was paid only because a very ; substantial eunr was carried forward from : last season's operations. Most of the local j concerns ore eaid to be paying from Is. I 10d. to Is. lOld. per lb., whilst some are ! receiving less than Is. (id. per lb. ' "Judging from the' difference in the

amounts 6efc asido for depreciation, dairy companies, unlike freezing companies and other private concerns, have no fixed standard by which the yearly amount of depreciation is fixed. Many of them simply carry forward any casual amount which may be left over after paying interest and the bonus (the latter wants a big B) to depreciation. This matter of depreciation may be open to argument during periods of normal prices, but there can surely be no \ijlid argument against a, substantial writing-down during a period of high prices. In any case the first consideration given by a company, should be-the conservation of its capital, this beingTianded to it on trust, ftnd a policy of,writing down is therefore to be commended as the one absolutely safe in its effects. "Considerable anxiety is being felt by those who represent the varied farming interests, especially those of butter ana cheese, and information, from Home is duly looked for as to what the .food Controller is going to do in the matter of purchasing the output of butter aud cheese, both from Australia and the .Dominion. The matter of prices for the coming season's output is stillsliroud- , ed in obscurity, but it is understood that the Imperial Government has made an offer of 1725. per cwt. for butter and 10d. per lb. for cheese. So far as can be gathered, these prices have been declined by those who control matters at this .end. The difficulty, however, is that the Government controls all shipping space, which fact gives them a lever of some power, and one which may be used to great advantage. It was hoped that the presence at Home of Mr. llassey and Sir Joseph Ward would have expedited the arrangements, but up to the present this does not seem to have helped matters. "The rapidly increasing cost of factory requisites, etc., is viewed with 60mo concern. Rennet, which four years ago was bought at ,£5 per keg, is now_i;2s; cheese bandage was 2]d. per yard, nml is now IOd.; salt, £5 per ton, is now ,£l9, and so , on. Some disappointment was expressed at thwact that cheese concerns could not commence paying 2s. per lb. for but-ter-fat, but the fact that the gross return, from cheese sol.l last season was less than that eventually secured for that eold the previous season, and the excessive storage and insurance charges paid this season, militated against a larger return for butter-fat being secured. "Some difficulty is being experienced in obtaining the unanimous consent of butter factories to the equalisation scheme recently inaugurated, and this ■will cause disappointment to those factories the bulk of whose butter was disposed of on tha local market. As far as can be gathered the local companies concerned have agreed to the equalisation fchome, a good deal of tlieir butter having been sold locally. Tor the coming season better arrangements should bo made to safeguard the interest of the factories wlio make a point of selling local- j It." •