DIAGNOSTIC STATIONS

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28314, 27 June 1957, Page 12

DIAGNOSTIC STATIONS

Government’s Subsidy Plan

!Nej Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, June 26. The cost of diagnostic stations should he met increasingly by the bodies which directly benefited from them, said the Minister of Agriculture (Mr K. J. Holyoake) today, addressing the annual conference of the Royal Agricultural Society of New Zealand.

The principle on which the Government worked, ’which he believed to' be fair, was that, though it had started the stations and supported them in their early stages, at some point the people directly concerned got more benefit from them and should pay more than half the cost of establishing new stations.

“Any further cost of diagnostic wqrk is part of veterinary work,” Mr Holyoake said. “The Government says that up to £lOO,OOO of this, of which half comes from the taxpayer, must come out of the Veterinary Services Council’s funds.

“it appears that if, instead of £lOO,OOO a year, the council had £llO,OOO, it could immediately fit in the cost of one extra station, which would be between £12,000 and £15,000 a year. “The Government is prepared to give a pound for pound subsidy up to £llO.OOO and amend the law to make it possible,” said Mr Holyoake. £1 for £2 Subsidy

The cost of any more stations should come through the council’s fund. Beyond £llO,OOO and up to £150,000, the industry would find £2 and the Government £l.

The taxpayer would be carrying the total cost of the two stations —Wallaceville and Ruakura—in the North Island and half the cost of the major station in the South Island. For any additional stations, the taxpayer would be finding one-third of the cost and the producer boards two-thirds, “The veterinary Services Council could curtail some of the work it is doing at the present time and devote that money to diagnostic work,” said Mr Holyoake.