MINISTER OF FOOD APPRECIATES EFFORTS OF N.Z., FARMERS

Wanganui Chronicle, 6 May 1948, Page 4

MINISTER OF FOOD APPRECIATES EFFORTS OF N.Z., FARMERS

The following message recently received from the United Kingdom Minister of Food (Mr Strachey) was read by the chairman of the New Zealand Dairy Board, Mr. W. E. Hale, at a meeting of the Central Ward in Wanganui on Tuesday night:— "May I ask you to be good enough, at your forthcoming conferences, to convey to the representatives of the New Zealand Dairy Industry my appreciation of their efforts to increase the production of dairy products during the current season. “New Zealand continues to be the most important supplier of butter and cheese to the United Kingdom, and therefore the volume of your production has a large influence on all ration levels. These have been very low for a long time now, and I should be very grateful if you would tell your conferences that we urgently need much larger supplies of all classes of dairy products and that we will continue to need them lor many years ahead." Mr. Hale said that it had beejj hoped to increase the production of dairy produce by 10 per cent, during the present season, but the final figures would probably show only a small rise. Production was going well until January, when the dry weather began, after which it had fallen off rapidly. While it was felt that the industry' should make every effort to produce as much as it could, there were certain problems which had to be considered. These he would place before Mr. Strachey.