CHEESE PAYMENTS

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20265, 6 August 1937, Page 9

CHEESE PAYMENTS

UNSATISFACTORY POSITION DISCUSSION AT TATUANUI. CLAIMS FOR ADJUSTMENT. (Times Representative.) MORRINSVILLE, Thursday. “ The results of the past season’s operations under the guaranteed price scheme have been very unsatisfactory and very disappointing to the cheese producer,” said the chairman of directors, Mr W. Darrall, at the annual meeting of the Tatua Co-operative Dairy Company, at Tatuanui, to-day. “ Owing to errors In the calculations of those who were responsible for fixing the difference between payments for butter and cheese, butter producers obtained more than it was intended they should and cheese producers have received less. The margin allowed was ljd and, while that amount is now recognised as insufficient and a margin of 2d is pratlcally decided upon for the present year, the l£d was not available under the conditions under which the factories work. Had you been allowed to sell your cheese on the open market, as in the past, a very much higher return would have been received and we think that you have every Justification to claim some adjustment for the past to be paid -from the surplus in the cheese account, and also that your industry should be so treated that you will be recompensed for the greatly higher costs that you are called upon to bear. If Values Fall. “ The difficulty in meeting these costs, irrespective of where the money is obtained, should convince our administrative Ministers of the futility of allowing the continued trend in this direction. What will be the position of primary producers facing the dlffloultles they do if a substantial reduction occurs in overseas values for our produoe, should, perhaps, be left to the imagination. The outlook for the present season is quite obscured; firstly, because of the absence of any statement as to the price to be paid, for butter and cheese, or on what basis the payments will toe made and secondly because we have no indication of the limit of oosts.”

The speaker stated that while some difference oocurred between the payments from the various cheese factories, such difference had been found upon examination, and a very clear analysis was made possible In the new standardised balance-sheets, to be caused principally by variations In yields per lb. butterfat, low testing milks usually having higher yields. The difference in quality variations, ip transport charges, interest paid on capital, etc., contributed in only a small degree to the difference in payments. The speaker stated that lie had Checked the yields of four companies and If due allowance were made for these, the Tatua company showed to the best advantage of the four. Minister’s Letter. “ You do not want pamphlets or promises. - What you need is the money and it is of no use to fix a prloe if it cannot be handed on to you,” concluded Mr Darrall, A letter received from the Hon. W. Lee Martin, Minister of Agriculture, stated that some time ago the Government had announced that for the coming season the guaranteed purchase prices would be so fixed as to enable the average cheese manufacturing company to pay out 2d per lb. in excess of the pay-out of the average butter manufacturing company. The Cabinet would give every consideration to the suggestion that a further payment for cheese should be made. Commenting on the letter, Mr P. Rushton said that no one was satisfied with the Government’s commandeer, and lie thought that the meeting should voice its protest to the Minister of Agriculture. “We have already committed ourselves to supply for another season, but we have done so in the dark. We have no idea what we are going to get in return. We have a valuable asset In the Industry, but it Is being imperilled by the actions of the Government.” The following resolution, proposed by Mr Rushton, was carried: “That this meeting of suppliers of the Tatua Co-operative Dairy Company request that In view of the very small premium paid to cheese suppliers over butter suppliers, the whole of the surplus in the cheese account for the past season he paid to oheese companies for distribution among suppliers.” Farmers Not Satisfied. “ The Ministers go around the country saying that they have the farmers behind them, but I think that the farmer is definitely not satisfied with the way they commandeered the industry,” said Mr A. J. Luxton. “ They sav that they were put into power by the farmers, but I say that they were put there by the sustenance men in the towns. I think It is ridiculous that our Industry should be commandeered in the way that, it

has been.” A further motion, proposed by Mr Rushton, was as follows: "That the suppliers of the Tatua Dairy Company respectfully 1 urge that, in order to retain the cheese industry, and to meet the increased costs in the factories and on the forms a more liberal payment be made for the present season. We affirm that the cheese industry is an asset to the Dominion and consider that a premium of at least 2d per lb. butterfat is necessary to enable cheese factories to continue.” The motion was carried.