DAIRY INDUSTRY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 8 October 1936, Page 2

DAIRY INDUSTRY

QUESTIONS IN THE HOUSE (From “The Mail’s” Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, This Day. In a notice of question to the Minister of Marketing (the Hon. W. Nash) in the House yesterday, Mr A. G. Hultquist (Government, Bay of Plenty) asked whether the Minister’s attention had been drawn to reports of dairy company meetings in Whakatane and Gisborne addressed by Messrs A. J. Murdock and T. C. Brash on behalf of the Dairy Board, at which Mr Murdock stated that the farmers expected Is 6|d a lb guaranteed price for butterfat, whereas it had worked out at 12 9-10 d; r 2) whether there was any truth in the statement by Mr Brash at Gisborne on the sth instant that if there was a surplus in the Dairy Industry Act at the end of the 1936-37 season it would be paid to the farmer in cash during election year. Mr Brash, said Mr Hultquist, had made the following statement: “That it would probably be 1938 before it could be known whether or not there would be a surplus. That is election year, so you have a good fighting chance of getting it in cash. ” (3) Whether the Minister was unaware of the fact that at meetings in the Bay of Plenty and Gisborne districts, addressed by Messrs Murdock and Brash, resolutions critical of the Government’s policy generally in respect of the dairy industry and marketing were being carried, despite the fact that the dairy companies in those districts had previously expressed the opinion that they would wait the implementing of the full policy of the Government before they would decide whether the Government’s schemes were satisfactory or otherwise. Mr K. J. Holyoake (National, Motueka): They are only waking up!