AUSTRALIAN BUTTER.

Grey River Argus, 13 January 1928, Page 8

AUSTRALIAN BUTTER.

Reciprocity with N.Z. PAGE EXPLAINS GOVERNMENT’S POSITION. SYDNEY, January 12. Dr. Earl Page, Federal Treasurer, in an address on the Government’s policy in regard to the dairying industry, at Turwillimbah, referring to the reciprocal trade agreement between Australia and New Zealand, pointed out that six months’ notice was necessary before a variation could become effective. Recently New Zealand had desired to increase the duty on flour by £l, and the Commonwealth had raised no objection, yet when Australia wanted to increase the duty on New Zealand butter, there was an, outburst from the Dominion. He suggested that a representative of the Federal Government should be sent to New Zealand to revise the whole treaty, and see if. the butter duty could hot be without delay. New Zealand dairymen, he said, were not benefiting by exports to Australia, but only the speculator Many - "countries, where the standard of living was much lower than in Australia, were going in for dairying, and in order to compete against them, Australia would have to reduce manufacturing costs of a. minimum 1 . The meeting resolved to request the Federal Government to approach the New Zealand Government asking for a revision of the whole trade agreement with the object of bringing the. increase of duty on butter into operation as soon as possible; also asking' that a representative of the Federal Government be sent to New Zealand for the purpose of having the matter dealt with at the earliest moment. Mr. Page said that in Australia, 125 millions sterling represented the capital invested in the development and equipment of dairy farms. They had an annual i*roduetfion of forty-five millions, of which thirty millions was for milk products. Butter and cheese factories represented" a capita’ outlay of £4,250.000. Their averaj»~ annual production was’ valued at nearly 23 millions. There were approximately half-a-million persons and hundreds of towns entirely dependent upon the industry. Directly or indirectly, a million persons in Australia depended for a livelihood upon the dairying industry.