MINISTER’S SURVEY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 December 1938, Page 5

MINISTER’S SURVEY

REDUCTION OF 1936=37 DEFICIT ACTIVITIES REPORTED ON IN DETAIL. EFFORTS TO MAINTAIN CHEESE PRODUCTION. Simultaneously with the issue of the annual report and accounts of the Primary Products Marketing Department a statement was made by the Minister of Marketing, Mr Nash. He said that in terms of the Primary Products Marketing Act the report and accounts were to bo laid before Parliament within 11 days after they had been received by the Minister if Parliament were then sitting. The Parliamentary session ended on September 16, before the report and accounts could be completed. Consequently, he was now issuing these statements and they would be laid before Parliament when it next met.

“The report of the Dairy Produce Export Division reviews the completed financial operations for the year ended July 31, 1937,” said Mr Nash. “The deficit for the 1936-37 season is shown to be £272,482. In terms of the undertaking given to the dairy industry, this deficit is the responsibility of the Government. “The report reviews the operations for the 1937-38 season, and discloses the estimated surplus as £555,185. This estimate was based on valuations of unsold butter at 110 s a cwt, and unsold cheese at 70s a cwt. Sales made to date support the estimated surplus which has been quoted. “Full details are given of the marketing operations of the department, and references are made to improve:ments in distribution of butter and cheese and in price returns which have resulted from the new marketing procedure. The advertising and publicity activities in the United Kingdom are fully reviewed and details are given of the extensions in the programme which have been made possible by the increased financial allocation for this purpose. There is a complete range of

all the statistical data relating to gradihgs of butter ahd cheese, shipments and deliveries to London and other ports in the United Kingdom. The guaranteed prices for dairy produce are tabulated with the corresponding average payments for butterfat made by dairy companies to their suppliers. Dairy company manufacturing costs are shown and comparisons are made with previous season’s costs. Special references are made to cheese manufacture and to the efforts of the Government to maintain cheese production. “The report and accounts of the Internal Marketing Division cover a period of 14 months,” said Mr Nash. “The activities of this division are reviewed, and in particular much information is given about the local marketing of butter, eggs, honey and fruit. Particulars are given of the assistance rendered in the constitution, in terms of regulations, of bobby calf pools for the collection, handling and disposal of bobby calves. “The accounts show that the trading operations of the Internal Marketing Division have resulted in a net profit of £6,804.”