MILK MARKETING

Evening Post, Issue 25, 30 January 1935, Page 9

MILK MARKETING

MUCH DISCONTENT

SCHEME UNDER REVIEW

THE "STAR CHAMBER" FINES

(From "Tin Port'i" Rtprmntttlvt.)

LONDON, January 5.

A petition demanding a poll to decide whether the milk scheme shall go on or be revoked was considered by the Milk Marketing Board. The petition was signed by 545 farmers, mostly, from the North of England.

The board rejected . the petition ott the grounds that the Agricultural Marketing Act, 1931, under which tha milk scheme was: set up, guaranteed the board* a "life" of at least two years if it wanted it. It is reported that other petition! are being prepared in at least six districts—but it is ' likely, as the result of the present decision, that they will be held up until September 6, 1935. ' In a statement issued after the meeting the board said that their decision to "take cover" under the Act was influenced .by the fact that a sub-com-mittee was already preparing amend'ments to the scheme and that Mr. 1 Elliot was about to appoint a reorganisation commission to examine the> , working of the Milk Marketing Boards of England and Scotland as a whole. Apart from the dissatisfaction of large numbers of farntera who were better off financially before the scheme started than they are' now (says the '*News-Chronicle'' agricultural correspondent), the movement against the board has been made militant by the heavy fines, ranging up to £150, which are being, imposed by the board oa producers who fall foul of the authorities.

DEFIANCE IN THE WEST.

Many of the "crimes" committed by producers are due to ignorance of the provisions of the scheme. Aggrieved "defendants," after having been fined heavily by what Judge Tobin, of the Westminster County Court, described as a modern "Star Chamber," return to their homes and organise opposition to the scheme. Serious trouble has long been brewing .in Wales, where producers have formed organisations pledged to defy the Milk Board.;

Discontent is rife in the treat country, where 56 per cent, of the milk produced is sold by the Milk Board for manufacturing purposes at prices ranging from a third to one-half of the cost of production. In North Wales, 46 per cent, of the milk is. Bold on these terms. As a result, farmers •who sell either wholesale or retail for liquid consumption have to subsidise, out of their receipts, the producers whose milk goes into manufacture.

The whole scheme is' designed to level down the prosperity of the industry. Dairy farmers producing on a largo scale milk for liquid consumption in consequence find the scheme is costing them hundreds of pounds a year. On the other hand, farmers who can only sell to factories have received a better price since the scheme became established.