"BURNING QUESTIONS"

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 51, 2 March 1937, Page 11

"BURNING QUESTIONS"

DAIRY CONFERENCE

PRICES AND BUTTER BOXES

St. Patrick's Day, March 17, will be observed by dairy farmers' representatives as a day of business, so will the following day. The Dominion dairy conference opens in Wellington on March 17 and promises to be one full of interest, first to those engaged in the butter and cheese industry and next to the general public. The conference will be open to the Press (but not to the general public), and official invitations have been issued .to the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage) i the Acting Minister of Marketing and Minister of Agriculture (the Hon. W. Lee Martin), and the Minister of Labour (the Hon. H. T.. Armstrong). It is hoped that th,e Prime Minister will' Open the conference, and that the Ministers will be able to be present. while delegates are discussing ■matters relating, to- their respective departments. i THE GUARANTEED PRICE. Those matters will include the guaranteed price for butter and cheese, a question which the official organ of the Dairy Board thinks will "undoubtedly take pride of place." Seventeen remits deal with this question of guaranteed prices, these in the mam contending that the present price is not sufficiently remunerative, in view of increased costs imposed on the industry by legislation. Associated with the guaranteed price question is that relating to the differential payment as between butter and cheese. Factories making cheese have been more heavily penalised byincreased costs than have butter companies. . . One remit on the guaranteed price, from the Buller Valley Dairy Co., suggests that restriction should be placed on export in order to improve the price paid in England. . Another question which will be keenly debated will be the butter box equalisation scheme administered by the Dairy Board. Experts attached to the Forestry Department are being invited to be present, and delegates will have full . information regarding all angles of this question, on which there has been a great deal of misunderstanding. Herd testing will provide a more interesting discussion than usual. FARM LABOUR PROBLEMS. Alterations to legislation as affecting farm and factory workers will be brought up, and the discussion on these questions is expected to be fairly lengthy, as the subject is a burning one in some districts, and particularly so1 in connection with small : cheese factories, which are most affected by overtime provisions. Many dairy companies are reported as "hopelessly fogged as to the real intentions of Acts which appear to overlap." Bound up to,some extent with the question ■of farm and factory labour is that relating to lorry hours, routes, and regulation, and questions as to how farmers themselves are affected by recent transport regulations. The full effect of these provisions will be made clear for the benefit of the conference. Another question is that of diseases in dairy stock, and the recent actions and recommendations of the board in this' regard will be fully dealt with: THE "COMPENSATING" PRICE. . Two remits deal with the. question of the "compensating" price, one of these asking the committee which has been appointed to consider costs to go fully into the merits of payment on a compensatory basis. It is anticipated that Mr. J. H. Furniss, who'has' been the leader of the compensated price campaign, will be one of the delegates to the conference. In any case, it is expected that there will be a keen debate on this issue which has met. with a great deal, of support, particularly in the north.

The conference ' will last two days, perhaps three.