DAIRY INDUSTRY

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 101, 10 February 1936, Page 8

DAIRY INDUSTRY

THE GUARANTEED PRICE. EARLY ANNOUNCED TEXT UNLIKELY. (Per Press Association). WELLINGTON, This Day. Although no decision has yet been made by the Government as to the guaranteed price to New Zealand dairy factory suppliers of butter-fat it appears to be certain that the rate will be rather less than Is 3d per lb. It is true that lod has been mentioned during official and other discussions on this vital question, but it is generally agreed that such a level represents the ideal of the “left wing” members of the Government party. The moderates seem to be more inclined to fix the price nearer Is per ib, contending that a recurrence of land value inflation must not be stimulated, to say nothing about the other effects, including the interests of consumers of dairy produce. Meanwhile it is pointed our that the question of guaranteed prices for dairy produce is under investigation by a committee of departmental experts, and that the final decision may not be reached during this month at the earliest. Indeed, it is doubtful .whether any statement as to price mil Ire made before the introduction of a legislative measure giving effect to the Government’s policy. As to the possibility of the Government assuming definite control of the marketing of dairy produce, . it is gathered that there is no likelihood of any drastic interference with the existing system. The prospective new control is expected to be more administrative than of a machinery nature. There is no official talk about eliminating the Dairy Board. In all probability it will act as the commercial agent of the Government, but giving effect to the Government’s policy rather than purely to its own. Such at any rate is the trend of the political discussion, but it can not be asserted that it is the whole policy of the Government.

MR AGAR’S TRIP CANCELLED. MARKETING IN BRITAIN. (Special to the “ Guardian.”) WELLINGTON, February 8. Dairy Board members have concluded their meeting and no statement of the Board’s attitude in the light of the Government’s communication was made available. All that has been published is a circular to dairy suppliers that the Board’s proposals are in abeyance and that a further intimation will be made after the next meeting in March. The whole initative appears to have passed into the hands of the Government. It is reported that the Board’s group marketing scheme is abandoned, though the Government, with the Board’s cooperation, will institute marketing machinery in England. This development has had the result that the proposed visit to England of Mr C. PAgar, on behalf of the Dairy Board, to supervise the inauguration of its scheme, has been cancelled. The Government’s view appears to he that, with the High Commissioner, assisted by Dr. Campbell, the economist, and Mr Davis, the Board’s London manager, on the spot, there is no need for a Board member’s presence in England. A committee of nine or ten Government officials under the chairmanship of Mr T. A. Duncan, a member of the Commission of Agriculture, is sitting daily in consultation with the Minister of Finance (the Hon. AA . Nash). Its duty is to evolve detailed methods of applying guaranteed prices for the benefit of all classes of dairy producers and a system of adjusting payments, though the questions of settling the amount of the guarantee and of providing finance to meet claims are not within its order of reference.