AUSTRALIAN DAIRYING

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXX, Issue 20165, 20 July 1935, Page 15

AUSTRALIAN DAIRYING

THE REGULATION PLAN WONDERFUL PROGRESS MADE The alleged benefit and advantages enjoyed by Australian producers as the result of the equalisation plan in operation there, and the progress and possibilities of dairying as a national asset were shown in addresses that were given at the annual conference of the Dairy Factory Managers and Secretaries’ Association held recently at Sydney. The address on the equalisation scheme, which had been in operation for more than a year, was given by Mr C. Sheehy, secretary of the equalisation committee, who showed that the benefit over world parity was 22/- per cwt., representing a gain over world parity in the twelve months of over £4,000,000.

Owing to the splendid co-operation of the managers, the scheme had, in many respects, been an outstanding success, he stated. It had been claimed that the system was top-heavy, and it did seem that a Commonwealth body should do what the company and the State quota boards were doing. But to bring that about it would be necessary for the States to hand over certain powers to the Commonwealth, and it was well known that the States were chary of sacrificing any rights.

In the 12 months in which the scheme was in operation, the actual amount gained by the four eastern States over and above world parity prices was £4,039,000. Compared with the Paterson scheme, with the levy of IS£ and a bounty of 3d the advantage was £1,882.000. The per box benefit over parity was 11/-, and the administrative levy for the maintenance of the scheme amounted to Id per box. He had no hesitation in saying that, bad as values were, they would have been far worse had the export council not adopted the withholding scheme.

Some dissatisfaction had arisen regarding the varying per capita consumption in the various States, he added. The question of per capita consumption was now being tackled in the States, and the objective of an increase was not going to be attained by “mud-slinging.” In Queensland the per capita consumption of butter was 25.651 b; in New South Wales 29.211 b; in Victoria, 24.651 b; and in Tasmania about 111 b. Those figures, however, did not disclose the real position, as some manufacturers had not signed the agreement. There were other factors to prove that there was not the great disparity in the per capita consumption in the States that the criticism would indicate.

He urged every manager to use his influence to see that the equalisation scheme was continued. It had to be based on Australian, and not State, ideals.

The progress and the possibilities of dairying as a national asset were shown in an address by Mr Maclnnes, Director of Dairying. There had been another great increase in the output of butter and cheese factories and that feature of the industry’s position and prospects was one that encouraged the producer and the manufacturer in the midst of marketing difficulties that beset them, he remarked. The increase in production had largely balanced the decrease in prices. In 1913, 33,840 tons were exported from Australia, representing £3,565,282, or £lO5/0/6 per ton. The 1935 estimates were 125,000 tons, representing £9,375,000, or £75 per ton. The increase in volume was 270 per cent., the increase in gross value 160 per cent., and the decrease in price 30 per cent. The factory butter output figures during the economic crisis gave a wonderful idea of the progress and possibilities of dairying as a national asset. In 1928-29 in New South Wales the butter production was 41,000 tons, the local consumption was 33.61 b per head, and the surplus 26,600 tons, and the average yield was 130.41 b of butterfat. The estimate for 1934-35 was 67,000 tons, the local consumption a little more than 291bs, the surplus 30,000 tons, and the average yield per cow 1891 b of butterfat. The main cause of the production increase was better quality cattle, better-fed cows, improved pastures, and pasture manage-

ment and the provision and conservation of fodder crops. It was also partly due to the expansion of dairying. The mean population of the State on December 31, 1928, was 2,464,510, and it had increased by 149,266, or 6 per cent, to 2,613,776 by December 31, 1934. Yet the volume of factory butter consumed in the State remained at 56,000 tons, and the consumption rate per head of population had thus fallenxby 2.41 b. It was estimated that 1934-35 would show a further decline in per capita consumption of about 21b. The consistent increase in the excess of home requirements was a striking contrast to the decreased quantity annually consumed within Australia since 1928.

The surplus had risen from 4000 tons in 1925-26 to an estimated 30,000 tons in 1934-35. The financial significance of the contracting volume of the State and Australian home market consumption figures and the enormous and consistent expansion in the export figures struck home when it was remembered that the export market value for all grades was somewhere about 70/- per cwt, while the Australian value for all grades was fixed for equalisation purposes at 140/- per cwt.