TOWN MILK SUPPLY

Wanganui Chronicle, 2 October 1947, Page 5

TOWN MILK SUPPLY

DISPUTE AS TO PRICES PRODUCERS AND THE I GOVERNMENT. (P.A.) Wellington, Oct. 1. The disagreement between town milk producers and the Govenment over payment tor milk has culminated in a breakdown of negotiations. A special conference of the Town Milk Producers' Federation has been called for October 22, when the industry will determine its future policy. The president of the Federation (Mr. J. J. Maher) in recounting the history of the dispute in a statement today said the Government had never fully implemented the recommendations of its own town milk commission which laid down a formula equating the prices of town milk to the guaranteed price for cheese. It was generally conceded even by officers of the Government that the commission made mistakes against the town milk producer in the matter of farm costs, Mr. Maher said. Town mille producers had been aggrieved ever since the publication of the report because the Government had not fully equated town milk producers to cheese suppliers. They had patiently pursued their constitutional remedies to get some redress of the grievance. The Minister of Agriculture appeared sympathetic but evidently Cabinet was " dominated by the Minister of Finance and -the Minister in charge of Stabilisation. Mr. Maher felt that whilst the Minister of Agriculture was taking this matter seriously his colleagues were not, and the responsibility for any trouble if it arose would be on the shoulders of the Minister’s colleagues.