Before dealing with the marketing of livestock I will mention briefly the current arrangements for the disposal of our two main livestock products—milk and eggs. Milk is marketed through a Producers’ Marketing Board which operates on very much the same lines as the Milk Marketing Boards in Great Britain.

In the marketing of eggs we have a unique system for the control of egg quality. The eggs are collected in the normal way by packers, or collectors acting on their behalf, and are graded on a quality basis in the packer’s store. The producer is paid on the result of this grading, deductions being made for second quality eggs, cracked eggs, soiled eggs, etc. The grading and packing are supervised by officers of the Ministry of Agriculture who also carry out further checks on the standard of packing and quality of eggs being shipped to Great Britain. These further checks are carried out at the ports of shipment, random samples of eggs being subjected to further quality tests.