DAIRY COMPANIES

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19136, 3 October 1936, Page 4

DAIRY COMPANIES

DISTRICT CONFERENCE EXPORT BOARD‘’S WORK PRICE PLAN’S EFFECT REVIEW P,Y CHAIRMAN The second annual conference of dairy company interests was held in Gisborne to-day, when the chairman of the DairyBoard, Mr. A. J. Murdoch, reviewed the operations of the board during the past year. Mr. Murdoch, together with Mr. T. C. Brash, secretary of the board, is at present on a tour tor the purpose of holding ware? conferences in various parts, and arrived last night from the Bay of Plenty.

Companies represented at the commencement of to-day’s meeting were Ngatiporou, Tolaga Bay, Okit-u, Kia Ora, Wairoa and Nuhaka.

The Dairy Board chairman was briefly introduced to the meeting by Mr. M. Doyle, chairman of the Kia Ora Cooperative Dairy Company. • Mr. Murdoch said that when he was in Gisborne last, it was understood that a local marketing scheme would operate from February 1 and' a group scheme from August 1, but owing to the advent of the Labour Party’s guaranteed price plan the Dairy Board could not carry on with its proposals in conjunction with the guaranteed price plan, and on the advice of the Minister the board had agreed to shelve its own plans.

CURTAILMENT OF ACTIVITIES

One result of the legislation for the guaranteed price plan was a curtailment of the board’s activities and also in the personnel of the board. With the new legislation came the setting up of a Marketing Department, which had taken over practically in toto the Dairy Board’s organisation, both in New Zealand and in London. He felt that the organisation was a sound one. The costs formerly borne by the industry were now a charge on the department, and no longer on the industry. A voice: I suppose it will come out of the industry some day.

Mr. Murdoch: You don’t want to think about that. The actual work oi' the board today, Mr. Murdoch continued, was very aard to specify, for most of the control was in the* hands of the Minister, who, however, believed that there was still a wide scope for work by the noard. Mr, Murdoch said that h« uimself had opposed, the guaranteed price plan, but, although the members of the board might have their personal views, while on the board they intended giving 100 per cent service to the industry. They were representatives of the producers, and not Government servants. Four of the five were elected by the producers and would bo responsible to them. He uad hoped that with the guaranteed price, producers would receive Is per lb. for butter. He had calculated ibis on the Minister’s statement that tho Government would take an average on the last eight or 10 years, and 1 the Government would make a liberal estimate and add a bit more. Mr. Murdoch found that his estimate was wrong, and the price was fixed at j2 9-16 d. per lb. . OLD AND NEW LEVIES Continuing, Mr. Murdoch said that the levy on butter and cheese in the past produced £BO,OOO, and a new levy was instituted® which would produce about £37,000. The old levies were 3-64 d per lb on butter, and 3-128 d on cheese, and the new figures l-50d and 1-ICOd respectively. Tlie board had promised £7OOO towards Massey College for research, about £ISOO more than the amount the hoard gave the previous year. Research was necessary* for a country such as New Zealand, which supplied 70 per cent of British cheese imports and 27 per cent of the butter imports. New Zealand held a high position on the British markets, and it was intended to retain that position. Other countries were making rapid efforts to displace New Zealand from its croud position, and the Dominion must not let anything stand in its way to improve its quality. More research, too, should bo made into animal diseases. Another activity of the board was in connection with Dominipn farm dairy instruction, for which the board had offered £IO,OOO to the -Government, but tlie Minister estimated that the cost to the Government would be £37,000 to £40,000, and turned the proposal down. Since then, however, the Minister had intimated that lie would go further into the matter as soon as the session was over.

Tlie next provision on the estimates was £IO,OOO for providing milk for school children. This was to carry out a compact made by a previous hoard and to give an impetus to a scheme that would help the dairy farmer indirectly. If they could turn their production to some other avenue they would relieve the only stable market, Britain, and also help to build up the health of the children.