DAIRY BOARD FUNDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19663, 15 June 1927, Page 10

DAIRY BOARD FUNDS.

Questions put in Taranaki to a member of the Dairy Produce Board have .revealed that it holds a sum of £65,000 in accumulated levies. Mr. Forsyth, answering the questions, admitted this amount but could give no assurance that it covered all that the board held. At a time like the present, when the dairy farmer's need for money is being proclaimed every day, what justification is there for the retention of such an amount? It cannot be badly needed by the board if it can be invested even on short term. If the, farmers, on whose produce it was levied, were asked if they needed it, there would bo no doubt about the nature or the unanimity of the reply. If there is any money rightly belonging to them in the country, there is no call for the Dairy Produce Board to invest it on behalf of the owners. The farmers themselves would have no difficulty in finding avenues for its employment. If the board has any justification for building up reserves —a point very much open to question —now is not the time to do it. The average prices received would need to be very much higher than they are now to justify the retention of so substantial a sum, earning, on present conditions, a very moderate rate of interest. Distributed, it might not represent a very great payment to each producer, but the need of the farmer for more money, both to meet everyday necessities and to do the very important work of land fertilising and herd improvement, has been so strongly emphasised that it is amazing to find the board holding and apparently proposing to retain so substantial a sum. The best investment it could make would be to put this money into the pockets of the farmers, where, by all accounts, there will be ample room for it.