DAIRY ZONING

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19338, 31 May 1937, Page 4

DAIRY ZONING

NUHAKA SUPPLIERS ONLY TWO DAYS' NOTICE INDIGNATION EXPRESSED PROTESTS UNANSWERED (Special to the Herald.) NUHAKA, this day. Nuhaka suppliers of the Okitu Cooperative Dairy Company, Limited, were advised on Saturday that an order had been made under the dairy factory supply regulations, 1936, compelling them to send their supply to the Wairoa Cooperative Dairy' Company, Limited, from to-morrow.

Only two days' notice was given, and this was unexpected, more .particularly as protests sent to the. Minister of Agriculture had remained unanswered. The notice that the order had been made was the first intimation the suppliers had received following the sitting of the Executive Commission of Agriculture in Gisborne in January.

When the.. commission, .concluded, a statement was made that the area south of Morere and Te Beinga would be reserved for the Wairoa company, but no order was made until a few days ago.

The order was dated May 20, a covering letter under which the order"was sent was dated May 24, and copies did not reach Gisborne until Friday, May 28, and the order was to take effect from June 1, which falls to-morrow. So, when Nuhaka. suppliers were advised on Saturday, they had only- two days in which to make their preparations.

Two months ago, the Okitu Nuhaka suppliers asked the Minister not to zone them off and that they should be allowed to continue to supply the Okitu factory, where they had been treated so well and with which they had had such happy relations. No answer has been received from, the Minister yet, and for that reason the order compelling a change over within two days came something like a bombshell among the Qkitu suppliers of the district. The Okitu suppbers here are making a protest against the Minister's failure to consider a petition sent to him two months ago, and are requesting a postponement of the provisions of the order until July 31. EFFECT OF THE ORDER DEFINING' OF BOUNDARIES WAIROA AND EAST COAST The order made by the Executive Commission of Agriculture under date of May 20 follows an announcement made after the sitting of the commission in Gisborne in January. Under the order,, the Wairoa Co-opera-tive Dairy Company, Limited, from June 1 has exclusive right of cream collection in the district south of a line along the Ruakituri. River- to Te Reinga, thence in a straight line to Morere and due east to the sea. On the Coast, the Okitu and Kia Ora companies are restricted from obtaining new suppliers' north" of the Cook County boundary, and the Tolaga Bay and Ngatiporou companies are similarly restricted in regard to supply south of that boundary. Compensation for the loss of supply occasioned by either the Okitu or Wairoa companies by the restriction of the area for cream collection is calculated at £6 10s per ton of manufactured butter, based on the quantity of butterfat recived during the 1936-37 season by the company fiom which the supply is diverted, the compensation to be payable as soon after June 1 as the quantities of butterfat received can be reasonably checked and verified. In.the event of a dispute regarding compensation, the matter is to be referred to the commission, whose decision shall be final and binding on both parties. The factories also shall comply with the provisions of the regulations relating to the resumption of shares held by supplying shareholders and the protection of advances made to owners and occupiers of supplying dairies.