BUTTER AND CHEESE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 June 1939, Page 3

BUTTER AND CHEESE

MARKETING SCHEME DEFICIT FOR SEASON. ULTIMATE LOSS MAY BE HEAVIER. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) DUNEDIN, June 8. An announcement that the season’s 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 Minister of Agriculture, Mr Lee Martin, at the annual meeting of the South Island Dairy Association. He said that this deficit was to May 25. “In view of the heavy shipments of Australian butter, with the consumptive demand below that of last year, it is considered unlikely that any material price advance will take place in the meantime,” said the Minister. “Cheese stocks are large, and with the anticipated heavy production of Canadian cheese, the prospects are not encouraging.” * A survey of the prices since the marketing scheme was inaugurated nearly three years ago 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 conclusion of the address, Mr S. B. Taylor asked the Minister if the loss under the guaranteed price would be made up by the Government and whether a charge would be made on the Consolidated Fund or the Dairy Account. The Minister: You will have to wait till 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. Mr D. F. Routledge: In the event of a deficit, is that a present to the dairy-farmer, in view of the fact that 95 per cent of New Zealand’s exports come from the land? ■ The Minister: When the guaranteed price was introduced the Government undertook to pay a price which would give to the dairy-farmer a reward for the service he was rendering. Where there is a surplus after the first year it goes into the Industrial Account to offset any deficit in future. We are guaranteeing to the farmer a certain price from August 1 to July 31. each year. When he was asked if he could give an indication of the figure of the payout to dairy-farmers for the 1939-40 season, the Minister replied that Mr Nash would probably be back in the Dominion before the time for. its announcement. “There has been a considerable number of discussions between Mr Nash and Mr Hale (chairman of the Dairy Board), and I think the Minister was disappointed that the industry did not accept the proposals he put to it. He felt that in the circumstances the industry might have met him. “It will fall to my lot, if Mr Nash is not back, to make a recommendation to Cabinet. I am in touch with him over the question of dairy prices, and it is not possible for me, at this moment, to make a statement with regard to the guaranteed price, but I hope that the price will benefit and be to the satisfaction of the industry. I am a dairy-farmer myself, and I know What is a fair price.”