AUSTRALIAN DAIRYING

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 March 1934, Page 7

AUSTRALIAN DAIRYING

STABILISATION SCHEME.

BY CABLE —PBESS ASSN. —COPYBIGHT.]

SYDNEY, March 16. Definite action has been taken dur-

ing the week in the direction 1 of stabilising the dairy industry in Australia. As the result of’ Commonweatlh and State legislation, an organisation registered as the Commonwealth Dairy Produce Equalisation Coy., Limited, already is at work aiming at bringing an equalisation agreement into operation at the earliest moment. A form for an agreement as between this Company and the manufacturers of butter and cheese has been approved, and also the Company’s memorandum of the articles of association. Provisional Directors, with Mr. J. Purcell, of Queensland as chairman, have been appointed. Satisfactory arrangements have been made for the necessary finance, and as soon as the agreements are signed by the various States the scheme will function. There will be a levy of fourpence per hundredweight on the total production of butter ,and twopence per cent, on the total production of cheese, half of which levy will be used for administrative purposes, and the balance for the creation of a reserve fund.

INDIA’S IMPORTS.

DELHI, March 15.

Suggestions are being made to impose a duty on imported butter, and to admit dairy equipment free, in order to assist local production. There is an abundant supply of local dairy produce available, but heavy importations prevent the development of the local sources.

N.Z. ADVANCES AVAILABLE.

AUCKLAND, March 17.

Mr Grounds stated, to-day, that the Dairy Board was in a position to make an immediate advance to farmers, if the Government invested it with power on the basis of the proposed State subsidy. There was no denying the desperate position of the average dairy farmer, particularly the small men. The present rate of 8d for butterfat did not represent even a bare subsistence.