DAIRY COSTS.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 386, 18 March 1937, Page 6

DAIRY COSTS.

Question of Increase. Press Association —Copyright. Wellington, March 17. A request that the guaranteed price for the current year be reviewed at the end of the season, with a view to making direct retrospective payments to cover the increased costs of production was contained in a remit passed by the Dominion Dairy Conference to-day. Another remit urged that steps be taken to impress upon the Government the necessity for taking full cognisance of increased and increasing costs when fixing the price for next season. Moving the adoption, Mr. A. J. Sinclair (Te Awamutu) said that from his investigations the increase in the factory was going to work out at from one-quarter to one-third of a penny a pound butter-fat. When it came to costs on the farm, it was too early to make any statement until such information as had been obtained had been tabulated, but he should say from bis own observations the increase on the farm might be set down at one penny h, pound butter-fat. Mr. Hayward (New Zealand Co-oper-ative Company) said that when Mr. Sinclair said it would take a penny a pound butter-fat to cover the costs on the farm he was “well out.” Wages increases alone over the last year were going to take more than threefarthings a pound butter-fat. He was not going into factory costs, but the conference should impress on the authorities that, a higher price was necessary to cover increases not this year or next year, but in the future. The remit was carried.