§ 45. Mr. R. J. RUSSELLasked the Minister of Agriculture what amount, if any, of the cost of the milk supplied to school children is paid by the milk producer by deduction in arriving at the pool price, and what amount has been paid out of Government subsidy?
§ Mr. ELLIOTIn respect of the first 18 million gallons consumed in the year ending 30th September next, one-half of the loss incurred in supplying milk to school children under the Milk in Schools Scheme is borne by the Exchequer under Section 11 of the Milk Act; the other half is borne, through the Milk Marketing Board, by the whole body of producers through the pool price for milk sales. Up to the end of February, 1935, 10,159,000 gallons had been consumed, and the total loss incurred by the sale of this gallonage at 1s. per gallon was £448,000, of which one-half is borne by the Milk Marketing Board. This figure, however, represents the actual cost of the scheme on the supposition that all the milk consumed by the children would otherwise have fetched the highest liquid price. In fact, but for the scheme some of the increased sales of milk to the children would have gone into low-price category manufacture for cheese and butter, realising with the Government grant under Sections 1, 2 and 3 of the Milk Act only 6d. a gallon. To this extent, therefore, sales of milk under the Scheme have represented an increment to rather than a deduction from producers' returns.