MINISTER’S WAGER

Waikato Times, Volume 123, Issue 20597, 7 September 1938, Page 6

MINISTER’S WAGER

BUTTER FAT PAY-OUT GIFT TO WAIKATO LEAGUE HINT TO THE JUDGE The wager of the Minister of Agriculture, the Hon. W. Lee Martin, that the butterfat payment under the first year of the guaranteed price would result in suppliers of the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company receiving at least Id more than in the previous season, has been recalled by the Minister in a letter received by Hie editor of the Waikato Times today. it was at a meeting in Pukekohe in .'larch, 1937, that the Minister made the statement, and when questioned said if his statement proved Incorrect lie would give £5 to charity. It was stated by the adjudicator, Mr R. H. McKenzie, that the Minister had lost by one-tenth of a penny, but the Minister now states that according to the figures he won the bet by a small margin. He, however, has 'paid his £5 to a charity. The Minister’s letter is as follows: “Many of your readers will remember that at the famous meeting held under the auspices of the Farmers’ Union at Pukekohe on March 9, 1937, I ventured the prediction that the New Zealand Cooperative Dairy’ Company, Limited, would for that season (1936-37), the first year of guaranteed prices, pay out a penny more than it had paid the previous year, and I offered to give £3 to charity if this prediction proved incorrect. 1 asked Mr R. H. McKenzie, chairman of directors. to adjudicate, and lie pronounced me a loser by ‘a short nose.’ approximately one-tenth of a penny, whereupon I paid the £5 over to Mr W. H. Paul for the Waikato Children's Camp League. “Now we find in the annual report of the company for the 193738 year the statement that the final pay-out for the previous year (1936-37) was 13.7160. The 193637 annual report gave the pay-out for the year before that (1935-36) as 12.696, so apparently I won by .022 d. These are the figures for butterfat for buttermaking; If cheese were included the difference would be greater. “When Mr McKenzie returns from abroad 1 purpose asking his opinion whether one wrongly adjudged loser has recourse against the Judge so that the Camp League may benefit further!” FIGURES CORRECT REFUND NOT EXPECTED “ Mr McKenzie was asked to adjudicate in September, 1937, and at that time he would obviously be unaware of the Minister's intention to refund a substantial portion of the levy imposed upon saranac boxes, and this accounts for the difference in the final price,” commented Mr C. J. Parlane, general manager of the company, today. “ As a consequence at the time Mr McKenzie announced the figures they were quiet correct.”