EGG RATIONING SCHEME

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 219, 11 June 1943, Page 4

EGG RATIONING SCHEME

Little objection could be raised to the establishment of priority claims for available egg supplies if the quantity is short’of market requirements, and invalids, little children and expectant mothers have rightly been given preference in the scheme announced by the Minister of Supply. But the whole record of the egg business seems to have concerned solely the problem of distribution. Nothing has been done from the other'line of approach—the increase of supplies. The explanation is that the authorities appear to regard this branch of production as one concerning those who keep poultry farms, the industry directed to a large extent by the New Zealand Poultry Board, whereas, it is probably safe to say, quite as many eggs are produced on farms and by people keeping small runs in suburban areas. , .

There was a time when these supplies found their way on to the market, and when railway communication was about the only means for transporting eggs in any quantity. Eggs from the farm provided h very welcome contra on many farmers’ accounts with the neighbouring store, or gave the housewife a regular income for personal purposes. But the eggs were marketed, and that is the essential point. The most marked effect of the introduction of registration of flocks over a certain number, in 1934, was the reduction of this source of supply, for it was purely personal and not an organized affair. But events since then have reduced that supply still further. Suppliers to former egg circles simply dropped out and the operations of the national egg pool, plus the marketing regulations, seem to have been a contributing factor to commercial producers seeking other employment. With the cost of fowl feed at a high level and the shortage ot labour the prospect of poultry-farmers being able to make good the existing shortage is remote so that it devolves on the authorities to find some other means of augmenting the supply. And obviously the best thing to do would be to remove the numerous regulations and restrictions that now exist and encourage farmers and others to send along as many eggs as they possibly can. Reviewing the position a contributor to a southern journal said: “The throttling of the farm source of production is the main factor in today s position, and that cannot be doubted. .Under existing conditions the poultry-farmer cannot be expected to extend his operations so that the farm becomes the only possible source, and the Minister Supply should direct inquiry as to the best means of restoring it. To restrict activities to the rationing and priority of’sales will do nothing to increase supplies and that is what is needed. Regulations and restrictions conflict with what is. on the average farm, simply a sideline, and if they were removed then there can be little doubt that the supply from many hundreds of farms would again begin to flow into a market now so seriously short of eggs.