BUTTER-FAT PAY-OUT

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 260, 1 August 1939, Page 12

BUTTER-FAT PAY-OUT

N.Z. Co-operative Dairy Co.

The sum of £749,139 was distributed among the shareholders of the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company, Limited, yesterday. The deferred payment for the complete season, including the. shareholders’ bonus, amounts to 1.9186(1. per lb. butterfat, while the final payment to shareholding suppliers for finest quality butterfat for butter-making, including the company’s contribution to the cost of collecting, totals 16.6878 d. per lb. The payment at the company’s cheese factories varied according to local conditions, but, excluding East Tamaki, which sold a large quantity of milk to the Auckland city, the average .payment to suppliers to the remaining 17 factories amounted to 18.4496 d. per lb. butterfat. The company’s total output for the season, which closed on May 31, was 65,988 tons, compared with 71,697 tons for the 1937-38 'season, a decrease of 7.96 jier cent. The drop in yield was attributed to the adverse weather, and to the difficulty experienced by farmers in securing suitable farm labour.

The general manager, Mr. 0. J. Parlane, said he. thought if suitable accommodation was provided on farms to permit the employment of married men, the position should be much improved. The quantities of produce manufactured by the company for the 1938-39 season, in comparison with the previous season, were as follows: —Butter, 46,134 tons (51,978 tons) ; cheese, 9626 tons (9390) ; casein, 1156 (1517) ; condensed milk, 1515 (2208) ; milk powderw, 7557 (6604) • total tonnage, 65,988 ( 71,697). At- the company’s 16 butter factories, the output ranged from 1239 tons nt Waimauku, to 4734 tons at Te Awamutu while at the IS eheese factories, the output ranged from 271 tons at Rukuhia, to 1431 tons at Matangi. A higher distribution was made on July 31 of last year than will be made on the same date this year, but the advance payments during the 1938-39 season were relatively higher than thej- were in 1937-38.