DAIRY INDUSTRY

Hokitika Guardian, 8 December 1934, Page 5

DAIRY INDUSTRY

RELIEF SOUGHT PLEA BY LABOUR LEADER. (Per Press Association, 'Copyright). ' MAE.TON, "December 8. The leader of the Opposition (Mr M. J. Savage) addressed 'a* largo meeting in the town hall last night. During the course of an exhaustive examination of economic conditions in the Dominion, Mr Savage stated that on the authority of tjh,© .report of the Dairy Industry Commission, fifty per .cent .of the dairy farmers were unable to meet their commitments although their efficiency, measured in butter fat,, had increased by from 75 to .100 per cant since 1920. Such a ’state of affairs called fcr immediate .action on the part of'-the Government in order to. save hundreds of farmers from bankruptcy. - "It would take a good deal of talk to ! make any thinking person believe the difference in price between New Zealand hutter and Danish was due to a difference in quality, or that the Dairy Control Board was-responsible for the present uneconomic price of butter. 'There may be some room for improvement in marketing methods and equality of product, but the outstanding fact was "that the wage earners in Britain, who were, substantial 1 consumers of New Zealand butter, were drawing .about £11,500,000 less weekly in wages than- they were in 1920. .What .was: true of Britain, also applied in a comparative sense to New Zealand ~TTmmediate financial relief was the only. way to .prevent the wholesale sacrifice on the plart of many who had spent their' money and lifetimes of labour on the land.