PRICE OF MILK

Southland Times, Issue 19393, 6 November 1924, Page 7

PRICE OF MILK

FIXATION PRINCIPLE. REJECTED BY THE HOUSE. (Our Parliamentary Reporter). WELLINGTON, November 4. The principle of fixing prices of milk by means of a Board was rejected by the House of Representatives to-day, in defeating the motion for the second reading of the Wellington City Milk Amendment Bill. The division was almost exclusvely an urban rural vote. The measure, the Wellington City Milk Supply Amendment, was submitted as a local Bill by Sir John Luke and was described in the preambe as “an Act to amend the Wellington City Milk Supply Act, 1919, and to provide for the constitution of a Board to fix prices and conditions of milk supply in relation to the purchase of milk by the Wellington City Council in cases where such prices and conditions cannot be arrived at by agreement.” Serious opposition to the provisions of the Bill was shown by the members representing the territory in the environs of Wellington, where most of the dairy farmers to be affected were located. They won the support of most members from rural constituencies, while, on the other hand, the Labour members almost as a body supported the “Bill. It was debated for some time on Saturday night, while it had previously taken up the time of the local Bills’ Committee for some ten weeks.

When the dispute was resumed to-day, the debate threatened to drag again, until suddenly there came a demand for a vote and the Bill was rejected.