DAIRY CONFERENCE

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 147, 18 March 1937, Page 13

DAIRY CONFERENCE

Questions of Importance to Industry ADDRESSES BY MINISTERS Seventy-two remits dealing with many questions of paramount importance to the dairy industry are scheduled for discussion at a Dominion dairy conference which opened in Wellington yesterday under the auspices of the New Zealand Dairy Board. The conference, which will be continued to-day, is being attended by delegates from all parts of the Dominion. The conference was addressed yesterday morning by the acting-Minister of Marketing, Hon. W. Lee Martin, and the Minister of Labour, Hon. 11. T. Armstrong. It was attended by the acting-Director of Marketing, Mr. G. A. Duncan, and the Director of Internal Marketing, Mr. F. R. Picot. The chairman of the Dairy Board, Mr. A. J. Murdoch, presided. In extending a welcome to the Ministers and the delegates, he said there were many questions of paramount importance to the dairying industry to be discussed. He apologised for the absence of the Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage. The conference passed a resolution urging that grading fees paid by dairy companies be paid to the Dairy Board, the cost of grading to be borne by the board and any surplus to be returned to the companies concerned. Mr. Armstrong said the prosperity of the people connected with the dairy industry was dependent on the ability of the people to buy. A voice : No.

The Minister; Then you think we are going to have a prosperous dairy industry in an impoverished community. What has been wrong with this country? Poverty prices for primary produce. In the dairy industry you want the prices of dairy produce to go up and everything else to go down. Voices: No, no.

Reference to the Agricultural Workers Act prescribing minimum rates of pay for workers on dairy farms was made by Mr. Armstrong. He outlined the negotiations between himself and representatives of the dairy-farmers before the introduction of the legislation in Parliament. He had heard it said that women and children were working in the cowsheds because of his agreement. It was an agreement with representatives of the industry. There had been cases of women and children working in cowsheds when butterfat was 2/- a pound, and it would never be otherwise with some farmers, because they were not efficient. It was certainly easier to keep a wife and child out of a cowshed at the guaranteed price of 1/1 than if there were a price of lOd. He was quite prepared to discuss with farmers anything in connection with the Agricultural Workers Act which had not worked out in practice as expected. If anomalies were discovered and mistakes made the Government would be big enough to correct them.

The Government's policy in regard to the butter-box equalisation pool and the conservation of the Dominion’s white pine resources for the benefit of the industry was explained in an address given by Mr. A. R. Entrican, of the State Forest Service, in the afternoon. His address was along the lines of one ho delivered to Taranaki farmers at a gathering at the Egmont Box Company’s sawmill, and which was reported in ‘'The Dominion” on March 1. After hearing Mr. Entrican, several remits dealing with butterboxes were discussed and then withdrawn.