In the White Paper on National Development the Government indicated their intention of revising the fees charged for dairy inspection services provided by the Department of Agriculture in order to meet the growing cost of such services. The Bill is to give effect to this.
No new principle is involved in the Bill. The fee at present charged for dairy inspection services was fixed by the Dairy Produce (Amendment) Act of 1941 and has not been increased since, despite the fact that the cost of the inspection services has increased very significantly in the meantime. The current fee brings in only about £14,000 per annum in revenue against an estimated cost of the inspection service in 1979 of about £900,000. As indicated in the White Paper the Government consider that a continuation of this situation whereby the shortfall in financing the service is met by the general taxpayer is undesirable and should be corrected.
As butter is now only one of a number of dairy products manufactured in this country, the fee on butter fixed in 1941 is to be abolished and replaced by a comprehensive fee on all milk sold for manufacturing purposes. The inspection services provided by the Department cover all dairy products manufactured for the home or export trade. The Bill will also apply to milk sold for the liquid trade in respect of which my Department also provide an inspection service.
The Bill provides that the fee will be payable by the first purchaser of the milk so there is no possibility of the fee being payable more than once on any particular lot of milk. Thus for example under section 2 butter factories will not be liable. The immediate reason is that they do not purchase milk. But the basic reason is that the butter they blend will have been made at a creamery from milk on which the fee will have been charged. Viewed in this light butter factories will be in no different position from any dairy produce manufacturers who take in milk on which the fee has previously been charged at other premises.
Likewise farmers with highest grade licences are exempt even though the Department provide an inspection service for them. Such licensees account for only a very small fraction of the total milk processed and in any event about half their annual production is bought by pasteurisers who will pay the fee on it.
Among other sections of the Bill are those providing for the keeping of records, section 4, recovery of fees, section 5, inspection of records by officers of the Minister, section 6, and cancellation, revocation or suspension of registrations or licences in case of refusal to pay the fee, section 7.
As to the rate of fee being provided for at section 3 (1), one-tenth of a penny per gallon can only be described as a very modest imposition. In terms of the current milk prices it represents less than 0.2 per cent of the price paid for manufacturing milk and even less for milk purchased for the liquid milk trade. I commend this Bill to the House.
