BIG DEFICIT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 June 1939, Page 8

BIG DEFICIT

DAIRY PRODUCE MARKETING SCHEME ESTIMATE OF £1.327.0000 FOR SEASON. STATEMENT BY MINISTER. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) DUNEDIN, This Day. An announcement that the season deficit on butter and cheese sold under the Government’s marketing scheme was estimated at £1,827,000, and that unless the market conditions changed materially the ultimate loss would be still heavier, was made by the Hon W. Lee Martin at the annual meeting of the South Island Dairy Association. He said this deficit was to May 25. “In view of the heavy shipments of Australian butter with consumptive demand below that of last year, it is considered unlikely that any material price advance will take place meantime,’’ said the Minister. “Cheese stocks are large and with the anticipated heavy production of Canadian cheese, future prospects are not encouraging.” A resume of the prices since the marketing scheme was inaugurated nearly three years ago, he said, showed that for the first season the deficit was £272,109. This sum. with interest, had now been paid by the Government from the Consolidated Fund. For the 1937-38 season, the surplus would be very close to the estimate, £555,000, given in the 1938 annual accounts. At the end of his -qddress Mr Martin was asked if the loss under the guaranteed price would be made up by the Government and would a charge be made on the Consolidated Fund or the Dairy Account. He answered: ‘You will have to wait until Mr Nash’s return before that question is answered. However, there has been no indication that any future deficit will be charged against the Consolidated Fund.”