FIXING THE PRICE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 181, 1 August 1936, Page 10

FIXING THE PRICE.

BUTTER AND CHEESE.

UNKNOWN FACTORS INVOLVED

ALL ESTIMATES INCONCLUSIVE <by Telegraph.—Special to "Star.") WELLINGTON, this day. Although there have been many unofficial estimates of the price which the Government will fix for the dairy produce to be. exported from New Zealand this season, no such estimate can be conclusive, because jio one, apart from the Minister of Marketing, his expert advisers and his colleagues, is aware of the factors which have been taken into consideration before fixing the price. From Eight to Ten Years. The Primary Products Marketing Act requires the price to be determined "after taking into consideration" the prices received in New Zealand ' for similar produce during a period of "from eight to ten years" immediately prior to July 31, 1935, but Section 23 of the Act declares that the validity of any Order-in-C'ouncil fixing the price "shall not be questioned on the ground that due consideration has not been given to any matter that is required to be taken into consideration" . . . "or on any other ground whatsoever." This makes it clear that the Minister is required only to "take into consideration" the prices received in the last eight to ten years; he is not bound to fix this year's price at the average of the prices received in those years. Other factors—including, for example, the current market price and the present prospects of the market —may exercise the decisive influence in his decision. The Minister stated during the debate on the bill that to the extent that costs of production, which were variable, could be ascertained, they

would be taken into account when the price was being fixed. He also said that the price "ought to include" a sum that would compensate the farmer's wife for the work she had to do on the farm. Price Expectations. Mr. Coates, during the debate, said he expected that the price of butter would be fixed at 1/1 or 1/IJ. Sir Alfred Ransom said that the average price for butter for the past eight years was 12.76 d, for nine years 13.03 d, and for ten years 13.59 d. He estimated that the pay-out by the dairy factories for the season just ended would be about lOd. The Minister had estimated that it would be 9d and a fraction. Mr. Dickie, another farmer, said that the average price of butter over the last eight years was a little over 12d. To-day's London quotation for New Zealand butter is 110/ per cwt, which, it has been calculated, returns 14.444 d per lb to the dairy farmer. According to the representative of an English firm, whose statement appears elsewhere, butter this season will return "not less than 1/2" to the farmer.

But all calculations and expectations must be inconclusive in the absence of information as to the number and nature of the factors which the Minister and his advisers have taken into account in fixing the price, which, whatever the fluctuations of the market price, will rule throughout the season now beginning.