DAIRY PRICES: GOVERNMENT IS ‘DISTURBED’

Greymouth Evening Star, 31 August 1950, Page 4

DAIRY PRICES: GOVERNMENT IS ‘DISTURBED’

WELLINGTON, This Day (P.A.). —The Government was disappointed and disturbed at the result of the dairy produce negotiations in Britain, said the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Holyoake, opening the national conference today of the New Zealand Dairy Board. Everything that the industry’s representatives had done in the negotiations in Britain had been done with the full knowledge and approval of the Government, said the Minister. When they broke off the negotiations, the question had been taken up on a Government-to-Gov-ernment level. Nothing more could possibly have been done, either by the Marketing Commission or the Government.

The Government fully agreed with the commission’s decision to ship on a pro-forma basis at last year’s prices in the meantime. “I stress the words ‘in the meantime,’ ” said the Minister. “We still have our foot in the door.” The Minister congratulated the industry on the further improvement in the quality of the butter produced for export in the past season and stressed the value of -research to primary industries. “A Crazy Position” “We have got to a crazy position in the dairy industry,” said Mr S. W. Smith, Parliamentary Undersecretary to the Minister of Agriculture, in addressing the dairy conference. “We are basing our industry —and the whole economy of the country—on 2s 6d per lb for butterfat. I remember in 1919-20 how we were doing the same thing—basing our economy on 2s 6d a lb for butterfat. . Subsequently we had to pay for it.”

Mr Smith said the producers must realise that Britain’s power to purchase at increased prices was limited, and a halt must be called eventually. “I ask you to consider the position and advise the Minister on your proposals to obtain more stability within the industry,” he said.

Saying that the industry’s reserve account totalled only £18,000,000, Mr Smith said: “Your guess is as good as mine about how long that would preserve economic stability.”