Dairy Board’s Methods Defended By Mr Candy

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29799, 16 April 1962, Page 14

Dairy Board’s Methods Defended By Mr Candy

(From Our Own Reporter) GREYMOUTH, April 15. The Dairy Production and Marketing Board’s one-seller principle of dairy produce disposal had been responsible for much of the success achieved in markets outside the United Kingdom, said the deputy chairman of the board, Mr R. A. Gandy, at the annual conference of the South Island ward in Greymouth.

From time to time interested parties criticised this principle, and suggested that wonderful opportunities were being missed because the board did not allow all and sundry to hawk and peddle its produce around the w’orld, said Mr Candy.

What those critics overlooked was that the dairy industry followed very closely the practice of New Zealand manufacturers when exporting. The latter did not hand their goods over to some other New Zealand business concern to export, but appointed commercial agents in other countries and exported directly to them. “That is exactly what the board does in all countries except the United Kingdom where we have our own office. Even there, nowever. the industry’s produce is

handled by selling agents appointed by the board.’’ said Mr Candy. It was true that, in the great marketing developments that had taken place in recent years, agents in the countries where the industry sold its goods had tended to replace New Zealand agents Many of these New Zealand agents had done a good job for trie industry in the past, but conditions had changed greatly Moreover, a very large part of dairy produce selling today was done on a contract basis in different countries, sales being tried to the provision of technical assistance something which only the board could supply. Mr Candy said he was sat-

isfled that the present marketing system was something of tremendous value to the industry, something which must certainly be retained for the difficult years ahead.

The free and unrestricted trade which the United Kingdom Government granted New Zealand meant very little, because so many oilier countries were given the same trading, claimed Mr Candy. He suggested a reduction in prices for dairy produce on the local markets in overseas countries of origin as an alternative. The trouble was tiie high prices in the countries of origin. Every country should do most what it did best, and then there would be a great future for the entire world, he said. “We are living in a very uncertain period in the dairy industry, and I ean’t see any real hopeful signs of improvement in the next two or three years,” added Mr Candy.