DAIRY CONTROL

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 17, 15 October 1926, Page 6

DAIRY CONTROL

FIXATION OF PRICES MINISTER’S EXPLANATION BY Telegraph.—Press association. New Plymouth, October 11. “I have never been in favour of the fixation of dairy produce prices in London, neither has the Control Board,” said the Hon. O. J. Hawlten when interviewed to-night. ‘‘The attitude the board takes up is simply this, that seeing they are representing the owners of produce in London, the board has a right to say at what price butter should be sold at from day to day or week to week. This is not price fixation in the way it has been interpreted bv the opponents rf the board. It is simply exercising the usual owners' privilege. There is to foundation for the statement that the board will fix a price for any definite period. The board is simply taking the part of the owner in London and looking after his interests on the spot. “I never have agreed that factories throughout New Zealand, feeing that they are so far away from the base of operations, should put fixed reserves on their produce, because they are not in a good position to judge the slate of the market. The test of dairy control will he the prices received for New Zealand produce as compared with those for Danish and other butter and Canadian cheese, and that test must extend over a reasonable period before the results can be appreciated. It is not price, but comparative price, that will be the test, because prices as a whole depend on demand and supply, which can be little influenced by any board.’’