DAIRY PARLIAMENT

Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 144, 21 June 1922, Page 4

DAIRY PARLIAMENT

A 1 WONDERFUL* OUTPUT,

"CLOUD WITH A SILVER CINING"

"NATIONAL DAISY ASSOCIATION.

\tt OCR OPICUtRIPOETBK.) " •FAEMERSTON N., 20th Jtme. A hopeful view of the future of the New Zealand dairying indTißtry was taken by the president of the National Dairy Association (Mr. A. Morton), speaking at the annual meeting to-day. There was an unusually large attendance. Mr. T.i.O. Brash,. secretary, having read the minutes and other formal matter, the president, in moving J the adoption of the; report -and balancesheet (already published: in The; Post), said the most ■ remarkable featnre: of last year was the tremendous increase of production. The season was exceptionally fine. Not from the spring to [ the present was there any set-back. He referred to the great increase in shipments. The values (Government figures) were a total for butter and cheese, being £16,000,000. A large part of the increase was due to the low values of other primary products. Graziers had turned their attention from cattle raising to milk production. Some factories worked more than one shift; in fact, they were taxed to their fullest capacity. _ Notwithstanding that fact, the quality of the butter and cheese was, he believed, the highest on record. The high quality of the butter was, he thought, a very great angument'in favour of home separation of cream. Theories that were strongly ,held,-that home separation of cream would be inimical to the quality of butter, would have to be abandoned. He-acknow-ledged, the debt of the industry in this respect' to the Government dairy inspectors who visited the farms. v SHORTAGE OF SPACE. . Unfortunately, the gTeat production had led to difficulties in securing shipping space. The companies were told beforehand that an increase in production would be heavy—perhaps it was greater than estimated. But the shipping companies had lamentably failed, and there had been serious: congestion of produce awaiting shipment. It was difficult to say at the moment if this congestion had seriously affected the returns from the market. Quite remarkable a fact was the upward tendency of the market at the end of the New Zealand season. The shipping companies have also .found ..it difficult to reduce loading and discharging times at this end and at overseas ports. Improvement was being effected, however, and the companies were endeavouring to reduce the times of loading and discharging in New Zealand. ;. It would be necessary atod advisable for the dairying industry to meet the meat companies with respect to the new freight contracts which would have to be made, the dairy produce freight contract expiring at the same time as'the meat contract. He regretted that the shipping was in so few hands, for there was practically no competition in the shipping prices. : So far as prices were concerned, considering the high prices paid for land and the low returns received, consideration of reconstruction and getting back to stability was necessary.- It was questionable whether there were not outside influences at work on the market to the prejudice of returns to the New Zealand dairy producer. A GROWING DEMAND; He referred to the effect of the absence of Siberian butter, and the considerable shortage in supplies from the Continent and the United Kingdom. Figures were quoted to show how the imports of butter by Great , Britain had grown, arid how, they had doubled in one year. Consumption i had been increased, and this, followed the change of habits of the, people, .who had been weaned off butter by high war prices ,and the resort to substitutes;. Jjew.Zea-. land butter, was now selling at.2los per flwt,,and cheese at 96s per.cwt. \ " So there, is a;silver lining to every cloud," added Mr. Morton. ;. • : " We'll have a-drink on that," came a voice from the' audience. , " I'll see you afterwards," Tenlied/Mr. Morton;,... ■; •■ . ■„: . '.. ', ..•■ The Chairman then referred to the rate of interest on overdrafts, .describing the recent speech of the" chairman of the Bank of New Zealand as sound if his views were based upon sound data. The chairman of the Bank certainly'differed f,rqni the Prime ; Minister in his ■view on. the future of.-;mpney, but he (Mr. Morton) hoped that the. chairman of the Bank was over pessimistic, and that Mr. Massey -was correct. At the same time, they must increase production. He regretted the poor response to the advertising; but it was a crying need that the butter and cheese should be better advertised in Great Britain. so as to get better returns for their producers. j With respect1 to taxation, the.views of the dairy prodiuear had been put before the Taxation Commission, and it w,as hoped that same relief of the burdien of taxation would' be the outcome. The Railway Department had proposed revising its tariff, and it solicited information from producers. So hff as tlie1 dairy .industry was concerned, its interests would b© fully pat before th& Railway Department. j ' STOCKS IN HAND. The Chairman, referred to the balancesheet of the asoeiation, the form of which, ho said, was not. satisfactory to the directors, who would have a balancesheet prepared on former lines, and forwarded to members. , Stocks had been largely reduced!, and the result of the year's working, although bad, yefa taken over a series of years, including war y«tes, it was not really so bad' as appeared. When the fall in prices, came, the association was left with, a largs ■quantity of goods which it oould; not sell at the cost prices. He instanced losses made on benzine and. canvas for making covers. Indications at the present time are that cotton and jute goods wo«M increase in.price. Th!e goods on hand were likely to be. materially reduced during next.few months. If nothing unusual in prices or ;. trading conditions, took ■.rplaco, 'he thought the directors woiild come before tihe -members reporting ■• a considerable 'credit balance next year. The liabilities Tiad; been rechiced; 'So, too, had the "sundry debtore" and ' "goods in stock." There Were actually reductions in salaries, rents, and travelling expenses, but increases in postage and telegrams, printing and advertising, and income tax- (last year over £663)- was. this year £421. Next year they, shouldl not have .any income tax to pay at all. A loss was' regrettable, bub unavoidable. The etaff had. done its vary. utmost to minimise the: lose. .The Tepork and balancs-sibteeb were then fully discussed!, opinions of the capacity of the directors being various. Mr. book (G-roytown) wanted to know if the Marketing Association's produce1 ta.ad pT«far«m<;e hi jsnipping. . My. Brash, said there, was space fo*

the West of England, which, the Marketing Association filled up, and there was; also space at the same time for other shippers disposed to ship there im preference to London. , Tha Chairman, replying to a question, said tlra shipping companies' preferred • to take butter to cheese for "stiffening" purposes of their ships. ' Mr> Brash, said th«re had. not 'been sufficient space for cheese. They were, working to get other companies to assist the shipping companies to 'help1 in the carriage of cheese. CANDID CRITICISM. "'. Mr. Nicol (Tiakitahnna) said! he j thought the president was .one of the most inconvancing presidents he had! ever heard. He described' the ijaJanoei-sheeb las lan abortion. (liaaghter.) , Mt. T. Moss (Eketabuna.) congratulated the1 chairman upon the way. in which he had fully dealt with the bal-ance-fiheet. The directors, of wiionv he ; i was one, were not. satisfied! with the state of affairs, but they war© out to'1, remedy them. Ho mentioned th© way in whiah the association was out to help the fanners (especially those men who had returned! to take up farms) who were up against it. Mr. Nicol eaid they wouid never get any further ahead if they listened to a lot of wind-bags and balloons like Mr. Moss. (Loudi laughter.) The President showed how factories that had' shipped by th« Wast Coast had got most of their cheese away. LOCAL BUTTER MARKET. Mr. M'Donald (Te Horo), in criticising the management, referred to the local butter market, instancing the "cutting" of butter, which should not be. They had a much better chance of controlling their produce in New Zealand than in London. Mr. Gibbs (Alton) criticised the shipping companies.freight1 on butte* to the prejudice of cheese. The Chairman said the shipping companies absolutely Tefused to make any concession on cheese, although the inequity of the discrimination was pointed out. Mr. 'Brash said the increase of butter freights on pre-war rates' was 100 per cent., and on cheese 175 per cent. The matter was one for adjustment in a new freight contract. Mr. Corrigan (Hawera) wanted to iknow if there was any expert inspection of the chambers of shipping for the carriage of dairy produce. ; The president said the matter was engaging the attention of the Government through Dr. Reakes. . It was thought that, something was wrong, for cheese had lipft New Zealand in good condition and had arrived Home in. a defective condition. It did not always occur on the same boats. There was some reason —he did not know what—for this defective condition of cheese on arriving. Mr. Corrigan suggested the possibility ; of a tell-tale that would be a check on the temperatures in the chambers as, logged. <=■ ' ' ' Mr. Brash detailed the steps taken by the shipping companies te have the corr rect temperatures maintained regardless of cost of coal or effort. The report and balance-sheet were adopted without dissent. Messrs: H. D. Forsyth (Eltham), Edward Allen (Cambridge), T. Moss (Eketa-: huna), and. John Gildea (Maharahara) were elected directors for the year to fill vacancies on the board. j The conference rejected a proposal to create Masterton South ward as a separate district for representation.' It was resolved to appoint a solicitor to all dairy companies. ' The cash discount shown on merchants' cheese_ and butter accounts sale* |of twopence in the pound sterling" was discussed, and a motion that it be abolished was and lost! / DAIRY AMENDMENT ACT. Mr._ W. Singleton, Dairy Commissioner, explained in detail proposed amendments to the Dairy Act, 1908, modelled to some extent, on the Ontario Dairy Act. The proposals were designed, he said, to eliminate unfair competition and restrict unjustifiable over-runs. Mr. Singleton thoe gave a detailed explanation, going into,, technicalities. Factories, he said, who made, abnormal over-runs, should come into'the light of } publicity. There was nothing in the proposed amendment prejudicial to factory companies doing honest work. Over-runs had been made of 25 to 30 per cent. ' The proposed amendment to the Act was in the interests of' straight running. . The proposals were generally favourably received, and adopted. Mr. Fred. Nathan incidentally remarked that protection was necessary from the farmer who waters or skims his milk. No one in that room would do such a thing, but no doubt they knew it was done. " Mr. Singleton further technically explained the provisions. With regard to watered milk, that matter jvas covered by the Act; ( ■ t • ■ Mr. Nathan then instanced a case with 30 per cent, water in the milk and cream added to the milk. Legal opinion showed that no redress was obtainable in this case, as his firm was buying solely butter-fat, not milk.