DAIRY FINANCES

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20500, 17 May 1938, Page 7

DAIRY FINANCES

HALF MILLION SURPLUS METHODS OF DIBPOBAL “NOT OUT TO MAKE PROFIT*’ (Special to Times) WELLINGTON, Monday The announcement that at Thursday last there \Nas a surplus of £530,683 in the Dairy Industry Account, and that he hoped to tell the National Dairy Conference next month what the Government proposed to do with the money, was made by the Minister of Finance, the Hon. W. Nash, in his address at Lower Hutt to-night. Discussing what the Government had achieved in the Held of regulated martieting, Mr Nash asked the dairy farmer to think back over the last seven or eight years, during the course of which he had received as little as 9d for his butter and Did for cheese. In 1934 the Dairy Commission had stated that one-half of the dairy farmers could not meet their liabilities. Between 1924 and 1934 the output was more than doubled, but the return to the farmers was less for the double quantity. “Compare this with the position today.” said Mr Nash, “when the farmers are assured of an average butter-fat return of 13.68 d a pound and cheese suppliers of a return of 15.18 d a pound.” Mr Nash said that the £300,000 deficit in the Dairy Industry Account for the first year would be transferred to a special account and would not remain a charge against the Dairy industry Account. For the present season the balances in the Dairy Industry Account at Thursday last amounted to £491,900 for butter and £3*,717 for cheese. These sums had been realised over and above the price paid to the producers. The Government was not out to make a profit out of the dairy industry. •