DAIRY COMMISSION

Waikato Independent, Volume XLIV, Issue 6094, 27 August 1947, Page 2

DAIRY COMMISSION

DOUBTS AS TO ITS VALUE VIEWS OF MR W. J- BROADFOOT Referring in Parliament to the appointment of members of the Dairy Products Marketing Commission and the responsibilities of the commission, Mr W. J. Broadfoot, M.P. for Waitomo, said he had been glad to' hear from the Minister of Marketing that the Dairy Board had been given every opportunity to nominate its own men. it had sent forward*a panel of six, from which the Government had selected three. Members of the Dairy Board had been given every •opportunity to make other nominations but had not availed themselves of the opportunity. One wondered why the chairman, deputy chairman and, he understood, one of the officers from the department had gone to London in connection with price fixation for the coming season when a commission had been set up to do that very job. He was going to be candid and say that he had been very doubtful of the commission from the very moment the new plan was put over on the industry. One read in the cables that Britain was in dire financial straits, and it just made one wonder why the chairman of the Dairy Board had been sent to England. It looked as though the chairman and another member of the board were being sent Home to l be told what the price was. He thought one of the main functions of the commission would be to "carry the baby" which appeared in the offing—possibly a recission in pricesWith reference to the prices for hides, here again was the result of control, said Mr Broadfoot. It was inevitable. The price was so low that for certain skins it was not worth while people taking them off the animals. There was a tremendous demand for hides all over the world, and competition was fierce. One remembered the competition last year,, and the point he wished to stress was the enormous amount that was being held back from the producers. In 1942'the export levy on ox and cow hides was 13d., on bulls Id., on yearlings 12d. and on calf skins 3d. In 1946 the levy on ox and cow hides was 10d., on bulls 6d., on yearlings 101 d. and on calf skins 15d. It had gone higher still.