MORE CHEESE

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 3281, 28 June 1943, Page 5

MORE CHEESE

BRITAIN’S REQUIREMENTS APPEAL TO PRODUCERS STATEMENT BY THE MINISTER “ The British Food Ministry has asked New Zealand to supply 120,000 tons of butter and 100,000 tons of cheese this year,” stated the Minister of Marketing, Mr Barclay, in an address to the National Dairy Association’s Annual Conference at Palmerston North. “I feel justified,” said the Minister, “in appealing to producers to make every effort to meet Great Britain's requirements. Our export of cheese to the United Kingdom this year will be approximately 94,000 tons: this means that the British Food Ministry wants to additional 6000 tons next season. I propose with the concurrence of this Conference to recommend to the Government that the present Dairy Supply Control Order 1942 be revoked. No Swing From Butter “I am making this recommendation ■because, in the first place, the Government’s policy is not to maintain restrictive measures on any industry in order to meet purely emergency conditions when the real need of such regulations has passed. Secondly, I feel that revocation of the Control Order is .perhaps the simplest and most direct method of securing the additional cheese production required by Great Britain without causing undue disorganisation of the dairy industry.” The Minister emphasised that the new circumstances did not imply in any way a swing away from butter ■to cheese production. He expressed the hope that the dairy industry would co-operate in ensuring the maintenance of the necessary balance between butter and cheese production. Prospects Good In summing up the prospects for the coming season, Mr Barclay said: “I can say that every indication we have recently received from Great Britain points to their willingness to take in one form or another all the foodstuffs we can produce in the coming year. However the future course of the war may bring about unforeseen, changes, although at the present time the position is more satisfactory than it has been for several years past. The Government will of course in the coming season, continue to purchase your total production of butter and cheese in terms of our existing agreement.”