Dairy Board Chairman Replies To Criticism

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

Dairy Board Chairman Replies To Criticism

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, April 15. The chairman of the Dairy Production and Marketing Board, Mr A. Linton, said yesterday that Sir John Allum’s statement about the use of private enterprise in export plans for dairy produce was ridiculous. Mr Linton was referring to a statement by Sir John Allum at the annual conference of the Associated Chambers of Commerce that it was necessary for the Government to make sure that “the initiative and skill of private enterprise was fully used in the dairy export drive.”

"A man with the background of Sir John Allum should not trail his coat like that unless he has a better weapon than idle words,” said Mr Linton. “I admire Sir John Allum for a bold attempt to make it appear that his organisation is interested in primary exports. What the Chamber of Commerce means by private enterprise is not the common interest" However, said Mr Linton.

Sir John Allum could be assured that in the countries in which the board' was selling produce, private enterprise, in terms of common interest, was playing its part. ■Die Dairy Board, in cooperation with businessmen, was developing plants in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaya and selling liquid milk made from New Zealand milk powder and anhydrous fat The technical knowledge, the capital and the drive to make these a success had all come from the board. Surely it would be ludicrous at this stage to reintroduce a system of working through New Zealand agents in those areas—which was the idea implicit in Sir John Allum’s unfortunate statement —when the board had its own experts on the spot Mr Linton said that the board's export marketing system was the same as that of local manufacturers engaging in exporting. Surely the manufacturers could grasp that elementary fact Manufacturers did not appoint New Zealand agents to handle their goods. They appointed efficient agents in the countries where they sold. “This is just what we are doing and the record of sales in recent years is proof of the effectiveness of our policy,” he said. Other absurdities had been perpetrated at the conference, but the board did not wish to exploit them to score points, he said. However, if Chamber of Commerce members persisted in them, the board, though it realised that they probably arose from ignorance, would have to defend itself.