THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20762, 3 January 1931, Page 12

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

Sir, —In his advice to farmers appearing in Friday's Herald, Mr. Dynes Fulton suggests we should conserve every possible penny just now. He also recommends liberal use of fertiliser and rigid culling of cows. It would be .interesting to know how many suppliers of his factory he thinks are in a position to finance these remedies off their own bat. Ia order to judge the full value of Mr. Fulton's advice, I would like to relate my experience and also that of other dairy men who keep careful records of their business. With the present costs of production, butter-fat at Is 6d per lb. places the industry within the bounds of being* a fairly reasonable business proposition, but would fail to induce those thousands who have ill the past few years left the industry to return. Butter-fat at Is 3d causes tho producer anxiety; a prolonged drought or any unusual amount o! trouble with his stock, etc., and ho finds himself on the wrong side of the ledger. Butter-fat at Is per lb. places the average farmer on the bread line of existence, with not one farthing a year remuneration for his personal labour. Anything less than Is jcr lb. for butter-fat is a dead loss of capital to the' producer. Assuming tho average pay-out for butterfat for the past six months to be 9d per lb., it docs not require the sagacity of a Solomon to understand the dairy farmers' position to-day. Mr. W. Goodfellow, in his review of tho situation on December 4, suggests the following reforms. which may assist to overcome the difficulty:—First, 1 y all-round reduction' in Government, municipal and county expenditure. Second, by a reduction in duty on all dairy factory and farmers' requirements. Third, by placing the railways under .independent commercial control. Fourth, by suspending the Arbitration Court. Fifth, by removing the duties on wheat and flour. Sixth, by the establishment of a strong Government. To these I would like to add:—First, mortgage interest on all farming lands be limited to 4 per cent., and-all other interest charges to be reduced to this figi'!'?Second, abolition of land tax. Third, all electric-power consumed in milk production be reduced to l£d per unit. Fourth, during the continuation of the Arbitration Court the minimum retail price of butter bo fixed at Is 9d per lb. Tuakau. Farmer, G660.