DAIRY PRODUCE

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 17, 15 October 1926, Page 9

DAIRY PRODUCE

IMPERIAL COMMITTEE’S REPORT DECREASING PRICES PREDICTED CONTROL BOARDS NECESSARY A summary of a report by the Imperial Economic . Committee on dairy produce, cabled to the Government by the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, is now available. The committee considers a reduction in cost of ■ production essential. The New Zealand Meat Board is held up as an example of what should be done to stabilise markets. "Dairy produce is the third of the main classes of foodstuffs imported into the Home country,” states the leport. The Empire share of butter was 51 per cent, of the total imported in 1925, as against 18 per cent. 20 years ago. In cheese, the Empire sent 88 per cent, in 1925, as against 68 per vent. 20 years ago. Consumption in the United Kingdom per head per annum is. butter 161 b. (against 281 b. in Canada, 271 b. in Australia. and 211 b. in New Zealand), cheese 101 b. Reduction in Cost Essential. Good and cheap production is more important than marketing at the present time, owing to the increasing competition from low wage countries which may make essential a great reduction in cost before long. This can be achieved bv improved methods. To reduce the cost of production the committee urges: (1) organisation of cow testing; (2) improvement of stock by eradication of .low types of cattle and bulls; (3) pasture improvement and fodder conservation by improved grasses and appropriate manures; (4) winter dairying. A section of the report gives the history. of the development and present condition of the dairying industry of the United Kingdom, Canada. Australia, Now Zealand, South Africa, Irish Free State and the Kenya Colony. In comparison, the dairy produce trade with Denmark, Netherlands. Sweden, Russia and Siberia, Baltic States and Argentine is examined. Methods cf manufacture in the Dominions are cs a rule satisfactory. Governments of tbe< Empire are advised to consider the desirability of uniformity of grading throughout the Empire. Carriage of dairy produce in refrigerated cars in all Dominions is recommended. Ocean freight charges an<f possibility of reduced periods of ocean transit are discussed. The latter depends on cost, and it is for the Governments of the Empire to tay whether subsidies on an adequate scale to secure high speeds are worth while. United Kingdom markets are examined and the functions of importers, wholesalers, blenders? retailers and multiple shops are examined. Regiilarisation of supplies to feed markets is advocated. Except to correct irregularities cf cargo arrivals, cold storage in the producing country is preferable to storage in the United Kingdom. The recommendation cf the Linlithgow Committee and the Royal Commission on Food. Prices that rlatistics of foodstuffs in cold storage be published ‘is endorsed. Stabilisation of Retail Prices. "The present system of heavy supplies of butter in the first four months of the year and knowledge of rhe quantities coining forward leads to sudden falls in wholesale prices after Christmas." states the report. “Buyers have come to regard this as a normal recurrence and they adjust purchases accordingly. The bulk of the butter from the southern Dominions is therefore sold at the ■minimum rather, than the maximum price. The crux of the situation is the retail price, -since butter consumption readily responds to the -etail price. If the retail price were .adjusted when supplies are at the maximum more would be taken into consumption aid excessive fluctuations prevented. Multiple shops and co-operative stores are in a position to help by giving the ‘lead’ to retailers generally. Dissatisfaction of overseas producers, ‘fas led to the establishment of control boards. These are necessary to '.egulate supplies and eliminate excessive fluctuations. Traders in the United Kingdom express apprehension regarding (he aide statutory powers given to the boards and the danger that they might adopt the policy of holding up stocks in the United Kingdom for reserved prices. The committee emphatically condemns such a policy in the interests of the producers no less, than tho consumers. “If the boards follow I lie examnle of (he New Zealand Meat Producers’ Board and limit activities to the regulation of shipments .and the gradual development of orderly marketing in the United Kingdom by such methods as the quotation of prices to give the "lead” to the markets and not by speculation or by fixing prices, they will greatly contribute Io the stabilisation of the markets. Labelling of Produce. Research is recommended into, the use of skimmed milk as food, and that. Hi" present method of labelling condensed skimmed ' milk be reconsidered after research has been completed. Legal minimum fat-content standard should be enforced in the United Kingdom for all cheese, crcain, and milk powders 'sold. Identification of Empire butter and cheese is recommended on the lines of previous reports, with the exception of blended butter to be marked “Blended.” The use of.proprietary names for blended butter containing nftmes of agricultural counties or districts in dairy areas in Home countries is condemned. The advertising of Empire butter and cheese in a publicity campaign is recommended. Establishment of dairying research institutes in all parts of the Empire is proposed, and co-ordinated research between Home and overseas institutions into particular consignments recommended. Certain central institutions could be selected as recording centres to. prevent duplication and to co-ordinate publication of results. ' The establishment of a dairy produce intelligence service on tho lines of tlie fruit intelligence service recommended in the fruit report is another proposal.

Growing Consumption of Margarine. Appended to the report is a supplement arv report on margarine. It chows the large and growing consumption in the United Kingdom and the production of tho material in tropical and sub-trop-ical parts of the Empire. It compares the food values of butter and margarine, pointing out the absence of vitamines from the latter, and recommending further research with a view <0 the use of a substance rich in vitamines suitable for incorporation in margarine. It also recommends research regarding tho conversion of animal and vegetable products into edible form.