NATIONAL DAIRY ASSOCIATION

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20762, 24 June 1937, Page 11

NATIONAL DAIRY ASSOCIATION

ANNUAL CONFERENCE MINISTER’S ADDRESS By Telegraph—r ess Association HAMILTON, June 23. In his address at the opening of the National Dairy Association Conference to-day, the Hon. W. Lee Martin, Minister of Agriculture and ActingMinister of Marketing, said that he had noticed that a number of remits suggested that payment should be made by the Government for butter and cheese at some point earlier than f.o.b. ocean steamer, and at the recent South Island Dairy Association Conference similar remits were endorsed. Mr Martin said that very full consideration was given to the most appropriate point at which payment should be made and the committee responsible for working out the details had finally come to the definite conclusion that the point of f.o.b. ocean steamer was the most suitable.

He said he had noticed that the representatives of some dairy companies had commented on their increased interest charges, and they suggested that any additional cost under this heading arose from a longer period of storage than was formerly the case. Any Increase in interest charges arose mainly from the fact that this season, with the certainty of the guaranteed price payments, dairy factory companies had been able to assist their suppliers by making relatively higher monthly advance payments than they were able to make under the old system. During the season, in some cases there iiad been a slight increase in the period of storage compared with last year. The Government desired to spread shipments and arrivals of butter and cheese in England as evenly as possible, and In accordance with a programme worked out by the London officers of the Department in collaboration with the selling agents. It was felt that the Industry will heartily approve of this policy. The extra cost of storage would be very slight Indeed, and would be covered in the general allowance made for factory costs in the computation of the guaranteed price. The guaranteed price plan aimed to provide a butterfat payout for suppliers at an average figure. In order to carry out this policy allowance was made in the calculation for the average ascertained butter factory and cheese factory costs, these costs would, of course, include the items interest and storage.

Disposal of Surplus

Various representations had been made to the Government in regard to the disposal of any surplus in the Dairy Industry Account, and in regard to the keeping of separate pools for cheese sales and butter sales. Those matters were dealt with by the Hon. W. Nash in his speech on the 1936 Budget, when he explained that if over the current year, sales of dairy products exported during the present year produced any sum in excess of the amount paid out by the New Zealand Government, the excess would be used for the benefit of the dairy industry after consultation with its representatives. The Guaranteed Price Committee would give very careful consideration to cheese factory costs. He reminded the Conference that the guaranteed prices are not intended to equalise existing differences in the economic circumstances of butter and cheese factories throughout the Dominion. The aim was to pay prices which would enable cheese and butter factory companies working under average conditions to pay an ascertained price. Mr Lee Martin said he had noticed in the annual report that emphasis was laid on the importance of a system of universal dairyfarm instruction. The subject would shortly be placed before Cabinet, and he could assure them that the Government would give careful consideration to tire wishes of ■ the industry.

Of the 363 dairy companies in the Dominion, 85 had the services of an Instructor. Instructors are at the service of practically all the more Important dairy companies. The total number of suppliers to dairy factories in New Zealand was 70,258, and of these 36,284 enjoyed the benefits of an instructor. The amount of butter made for the year ended July 31, 1936, was 146,687 tons, and of this quantity 103,180 tons, or 70 per cent, was made by creameries having instructors, leaving 43,507 tons without this service.

In 1913, before the present system of farm instruction was established, an inspection of 600 milking plants showed that 23 per cent were in good condition, 27 per cent fair, and 50 per cent were bad. In 1935, of the machines inspected 50 per cent were good, 41 per cent fair and 9 per cent bad. In allocating the cost as between dairy companies, the practice followed in the past had been to base it on butter-fat in some cases, and on the number of suppliers in others, as It had been recognised that circumstances vary. In some districts the number of suppliers per ton of butter er cheese is very much great than in others, and the allocation was not always equitable when based on either fat or suppliers alone. It had been suggested that if the contribution from the dairy companies were based on the weight of butter-fat, and the number of suppliers to the company, this inequality would be reduced, and some consideration would be given to this point in the event of the Dominion scheme being established.

Review of Season Although the dairy year does not officially conclude until July 31 next, it was possible at this stage to indicate its outstanding features: The season had been one of the wettest on record, and, although the volume of production had been more than maintained, the moist nature of the pastures had made the maintenance of quality a difficult problem for the manufacturers. At the beginning of the autumn there was a turn for the better, and the comparatively mild weather gave an impetus to production. The result had been that, while the statistics relating to the dairy industry at the end of March last were not, perhaps, as favourable as anticipated, it was expected that autumn figures would be usually high. During the year ended March 31 last 151,436 tons of creamery butter and 89,966 tons of butter had come forward for grading, compared with 145,990 tons of butter and 86,250 tons of cheese for the previous year, an increase of 5,446 tons of

butter (or 3.73 per cent) and 3.716 tons of cheese (or 4.31 per cent). On a butter-fat basis the increase was 5,968 tons, or 3.85 per cent. The reports of the Department’s officers In the United Kingdom indicated that our butter and cheese had been well received on that market, and had maintained their high reputation for quality. “Our butter has made inroads on to some of the markets In the North of England where the Danish product has its strongest appeal. There have been no major faults in the quality of our butter, but openness and mould have marred some of our cheese. The question of openness is still an unsolved problem, but I am glad to say that In this respect there has been an improvement, and there is no indication that the mould position is more serious."