CORRESPONDENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 250, 21 October 1926, Page 11

CORRESPONDENCE.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

DISPUTE.—Your inquiry is not clearly phrased.

DAIRY PRODUCE CONTROL BOARD. (To the Editor.) Sir, —Published prices at October 11 of butter sold on the London market disclose: New Zealand, 146/; Danish, 182/; a disparity of 36/ per cwt, or 19.77 per cent. At August 28 the figures were: New Zealand butter, 170/; Danish, 176/; a difference of 6/ per cwt, or 3.4 per cent. At October 11 Danish butter was selling for 6/ more, and New Zealand butter 24/ less, per cwt, than at August 28 last, and it is significant that the latter date is just three days before the Control Board assumed the reins of power. Let us examine this comparison. Danish butter more than holds its ground, but the market for New Zealand butter is demoralised. Clearly New Zealand butter is being subjected to boycotting But why? Equally clearly because Tooley Street and the English grocers simply refuse to be dictated to by the New Zealand Dairy Produce Control Board. Now, sir, advocates of control will tell us that the New Zealand butter at present being sold on the Home market is not subject to the jurisdiction of the Control Board, and that, therefore, the foregoing comparison is misleading. But here is the point: Tooley Street merchants have not only New Zealand butter, but also enormous quantities of Argentine and European productions, to engage their attention. They are experts, with experience dating back many decades, and can forget all about New Zealand butter and cheese and yet still keep above water. This is surely what is happening. They are quietly but obviously placing New Zealand productions in the background and concentrating on the sale of the productions of our competitors, unrestricted in their efforts by any intolerable interference. The New Zealand Dairy Control Board instituted absolute control on September 1, and it has taken less than six weeks to undo the goodwill of generations. Is it not time to call a halt? Butter at 146/ means a payout to the farmer of less than 1/ per lb. Can the farmer make both ends meet at this price? The market is steadily declining, which means that the farmers' payout is also steadily declining. We are told to produce more, but to produce more at the present market realisation would prove of negligible account. I would like, sir, through you, to point out to the farmers and the chambers of commerce of the Dominion the necessity of waking up before the position, which is already extremely acute, becomes unbearable. Permit mc to state that the first step in the direction of effecting a return to normal conditions is the elimination of absolute control. They should not only agitate for it, but also demand it, before it is too late. Bankruptcy, if the present decline in prices continues (which it is safe to anticipate), is staring us in the face, and something drastic must be effected without a moment's delay.—l am, etc., SENRAB.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —Like "Plain John" in your issue' of the Bth inst., I also congratulate you un your informative articles of the 2nd and 4th inst. on the Dairy Control Board's marketing of our butter, and I trust you wili keep us dairy farmers enlightened re the board's operations in the future. Ac a dairy farmer I voted for the scheme and, like thousands of others, at the time, I was totally ignorant of th fact that we were electing a board that was going to attempt to fix a price for our butter or in any way be up against the buyers and merchants at Home. We were given to understand prior to the voting that this board was purely and simply to regulate an even shipment of butter and cheese from this colony, and to try and get shipping and insurance rates, etc., reduced and to place these even shipments of butter with no restrictions on the world's markets in open competition to the highest buyers. Any child can see the merchants at Home have got the huff with our butter, and are letting us see they will not be dictated to and they are, in my opinion, quite justified. Now what would our wool sales be without the world's buyers in attendance, and in competi- j tion with each other ? You restrict them as to the number of bales they are to. buy or hamper them in any way, and they will soon get the huff and go elsewhere. The same can be said of our stock sales. It is a general known fact among wr farmers that we get the best prices for our stock when the buyers for different firms are in attendance and compet-

g against each other; the more the merrier, and better the prices; it is always a dead sale when no outside buyers are in attendance. Give us back again an open market with free competition, the sooner the better, for we are right up against it at 1/2 a lb, and cannot carry on. All we seem to be gettiag from the board is optimism, and a continual ramming down of the throat of quality, quality, till we are sick and tired of the word quality. We have already for some years now aimed at quality, and I think the industry can't be much improved, except in price. The board's inspectors are now also making it agony in conjunction with the board's experiment. To give you an instance. About a fortnight ago nearly every dairy farmer in my district got second grade for his cream, and any cream can that was a little dented or knocked about on the outside was condemned for further uee, no matter how clean or polished it was kept. We are forced to buy a brand new can. When given second grade at any time for our butter no explanation is ever given on the ticket why it is so, co that the fault can be remedied. Men who hold letters from their factory managers asking for their cream for exhibition and show purposes in the past are now getting second grade and no inducement. Will the board tell mc how is a man to keep his cream can from gttting knocked about, dirty and dented on the outeide when it's got to travel 10 miles in a horse wagon over a rough road bumping all the time against other cans to the station, and then another long journej by train to the factory, while on the return journey when empty the are more easily squashed and dented? In conclusion I am only voicing the s opinion of the large majority, all in fact, in my district, of dairy farmers- who sincerely regret the day we voted ignorantly against the old free and open market, and were a * poll taken to-morrow for the free and open market under the old conditions every man Jack of us would vote against the Dairy Control Board and restrictions. We hope to see canvassers out for these votes in every district in New Zealand before next Parliament. — I am, etc., YE KEN THE NOO.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —Combining the recently reported further drop in butter with your previous information where it was reported merchants resent the inquisitorial methods the control board adopt, it is apparent the elimination of the speculator is one of the factors in the very severe decline in price and in position that New Zealand butter has undergone. iWhy the farmer as a class should try to prevent men buying his goods passes a layman's comprehension. H he had a cow to sell and two men who desired a cow were supplemented by three others willing, to purchase with a view to a future demand for cows, he would be delighted. Not in high moral fever would he reject their . offers as speculative I am certain. He would also realise the grave risk of collusion with two buyers that is lessened by five. Does the farmer who cannot save himself hope to save the consumer from this dreadful fiend? He will find before long that supply and demand alone regulate price, and no man can manipulate extensive markets. The function of the speculator, so called, is to regulate fluctuations by buying freely at lowest ebb, thus preventing severe drops and selling freely at highest point and preventing extreme rises. If he does more he will lose money, if he does his appointed task he will make a living and earn it. Like every other class some will make fortunes, some will be ruined, according to their skill and judgment. The control board expects to eliminate these necessary agents by taking their place, but it will be at a greater cost to the farmer. The farmer has replaced skilled and trained men making a difficult living by an expensive unskilled, untrained board which undertakes to speculate (i.e. hold on low markets, sell on high) without risk to itself and apparently by direct inspiration.—l am, etc.,

COMMON SENSE.

EXPECTORATING IN PUBLIC.

(To .the Editor.) Sir,—l do not know whether this filthy nuisance has been condemned in your columns hitherto, but I would like to say a few words regarding the most objectionable habit a man can possess, and, unfortunately, one that the majority of men do possess—that is, expectorating in public. Waste paper baskets are provided for any surplus fruit skins and papers; disinfectants are used where rubbish is concerned; sweepers keep the roads clean, and so by various means disease, which may be spread by germs which lurk in all refuse, is combated to a certain extent, but what of these horrible individuals—one cannot call them men—who walk among the crowds in Queen Street and every now and then expectorate in a vilely disgusting manner, sometimes almost in the faces of those unfortunates who happen to be compelled to pass them ? Should not something be done? What would the wives of some of these men say if their husbands came home and spat on their clean floors? If an indecency is committed or bad language used the offender is taken to Court and fined or imprisoned without delay. Is not the offence of expectorating in a street full of people (or for that matter expectorating at all) as bad an offence as the above?—l am, etc., ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED.

[We agree with our correspondent that it is an objectionable habit. Perhaps offenders would pay more heed if they were asked not to "spit" instead of not to expectorate. There is virtue in simple words.—Ed.] RADIO PROGRAMMES. (To the Editor.) Sir, —"Phonos," in his article on Friday last, about the-poor quality of the items at the local station, will find many to agree with him, but I think he is making a mistake about the amount paid to performers, and, like him, I think that that is where the trouble lie's. If artists were paid half a guinea I have no doubt that there would be plenty available, as it does not need any special dress for the occasion, and one can go along in a free and easy style, sing his or her songs and get away home. The trouble is that the fee is not universal, hence the shortage of artists. I know of at least one fully qualified lady singer who went to sing, accompanied by a gentleman. Both made a good impression, in fact there were two requests by telephone for encores, but up to date they have received no fee, so naturally they are not going again. Others, perhaps, have had a similar experience.—l am, etc., LISTENER IN. (To the Editor.) Sir, —It seems a great pity that the fine facilities for broadcasting possessed by IYA cannot be used to better purpose than that of irritating listenersin. by the consistent mediocrity of the programmes submitted. Apart from a few good-class performers, the greater proportion of the talent appears to be used as "padding," and also the performers know they are immune from direct reprisals of any sort. I would suggest that when doing their item in front of the "mike," these artists be equipped with head-phones, in order that they be made to realise that static is not the chief atmospheric trouble requiring elimination. Listeners-in do not expect IYA to broadcas programmes, equal in quality to the Australian stations, but at least a steady improvement is desirable. Auckland possesses talent worthy of any broadcasting station, and it only requires a little more enterprise on the part of those responsible for the organisation of IYA to unearth it.—l am, etc., NON-ECSTATIC.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —I hope you will allow mc a little space in your paper to complain about the quality of the programmes given nightly at IYA. Since the opening I night they have been going steadily from bad to worse. If the standard of the concerts that followed for a month or two had been kept up there would be nothing to complain about. I had the pleasure of visiting IYA on visitors' day, and was impressed with the beauty of the studic. Surely better concerts can be provided, when such an elaborate building is provided? People cannot all see the studio, but they do hear the concerts. I had been telling a friend of mine in Suva about the comfort and luxury of IYA, and he asked what was the use of that when such miserable fare was sent out. Surely the programme organiser can arrange better concerts. Pity help Auckland if he cannot. My wife and I used to enjoy the classics played by Miss Quinn. How is it we never hear her now? One feels like selling set, aerial and all. It is no credit to Auckland when other countries pick up IYA and hear such programmes. I sincerely hope that for their own sake, and Auckland's, IYA wakes up. —I. am. etc., WIRELESS ENTHUSIAST. ["Several other correspondents complain of the quality of the programmes.]