PORK SUBSIDY

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 236, 24 December 1927, Page 10

PORK SUBSIDY

£3O,OOO_TO START STATEMENT BY PREMIER SUGGESTION. A statement in amplification of the announcement in THE SUN yesterday that the Government intended to subsidise the pork export industry has been made by the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates. A payment of £30,000 is anticipated for the first year, and it is hoped that this will be progressively reduced. “The Government has realised that the pork industry may be regarded as a necessary adjunct to the dairying industry, and is in one sense vital to the prosperity of the country,” states Mr. Coates. “Denmark lias recognised this to such an extent that the value of uork products is nearly equal to that of the dairying industry. If New' Zealand is to hold its position she must make every use of the dairy by-products.” As the result of the Department of Agriculture going extensively into the pork question, said the Minister, this aspect had been given decidedly more attention by farmers, and the number of pigs had increased from 400.000 in 1923 to 520,000 now', w’hile the number of pigs slaughtered had increased from 280,000 to 444.321. New' Zealand -was now producing more than local consumption required, and the Government was now’ facing the problem of finding suitable markets and while doing this considered that the points were in favour of the action it proposed, even if bolstering up an uneconomical industry was objectionable in principle^

“It has decided to offer assistance to the industry, not with the idea of supporting an uneconomic enterprise, but with the object of enabling this essential industry to overcome its present difficulties and arrive at a position where it can be carried on without further assistance,” states Mr. Coates. “The details of the scheme now proposed have yet to be finalised, and w'ill be discussed between the Minister of Agriculture, the industry and the control boards concerned, but shortly it is the intention of the Government to provide for a ' subsidy, covering three years. “In any case, the Government desires to make it plain that its object is to assist the industry and enable it to overcome the initial difficulties which at the moment appear to threaten its continued evistence.” Mr. Coates added that he did not know in what form the assistance would be given. It had been suggested the subsidy should be given on the per pound basis, although he preferred the per carcase plan. Again, it was possible assistance would be given in shipping.