Grave Injustice to Town Milk Producers

Manawatu Times, Volume 67, Issue 109, 11 May 1942, Page 4

Grave Injustice to Town Milk Producers

Per Pres# Association. WELLINGTON, May 10. Now that the Government had granted a war cost allowance to ordinary dairy farmers it was to be hoped the gross injustice under which farmers who supplied milk to some of the towns in the Dominion were suffering would be rectified, said the secretary of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union (Mr. A. P. O’Shea) to-day. They had been disgracefully treated, he said. With prices stabilized at the 1939 level farmers ia some districts, notably Otago, were selling milk at below cost of production and consumers were getting an unfair advantage.

There was as yet no provision to pass on to milk suppliers tho allowances for war costs granted to other sections of the community. It was an interesting contrast to the treatment they had received with that given the producers of beer. The Government knew the position and it was high time it took action to rectify the injustice. In some districts milk production for town supply had become hopelessly uneconomic. As a result small quantities of milk were collected over widespread areas and temporary licenses for town supply had even been granted to some producers whose buildings were not up to the necessary health standards.