MARKETING MATTERS

Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 54, 6 March 1922, Page 8

MARKETING MATTERS

OUTLETS IN THE PROVINCES ,

Mr. G. D. M'Farlafte, of Woodville, in an interview given to the Post's London correspondent, said ho had taken the opportunity during his stay in Glasgow to visit some of the large multiple shops, and in these he found New Zealand butter displayed for sale on the counters. . Everywhere it was most highly spoken of. One shop immediately ordered 2CO boxes, and another 50, and the orders were repeated within a week. The. managor of the former shop informed him that his particular firm made a special effort before the war to push New Zealand butter, and it was his intention to continue this from now on. In many of the smaller shops he found that New Zealand butter was preferred to fine Danish. In Edinburgh Mr. M'Farlahe found that New Zealand butter was not so well known. New Zealand Cheese was everywhere well-known and favourably spoken of, the only serious competitor, especially on the * West Coast markets, being ■Canadian. With regard to apples, ho had been able to make a definite arrangement for some 15,000 to 20,000 cases to bs shipped direct to Glasgow. He anticipated that this market would turn out to be a satisfactory one, and the association was endeavouring to arrange shipments direct to some of the other ports. On the subject of direct shipments to provincial ports, Mr. M'Farlane has already gained decided opinions; "You have to feed them very carefully." he eaid, "or you are going to make trouble for yourselves. The policy would be to underfeed them rather than overfeed, them. Up to a certain quantity, prices would be satisfactory, but if you get a ■surplus in these smaller centres you are going to bring the prices down, and ■these are bound to have a reflex action on the London market where the bulk of the produce of a similar kind is being disposed of. There is the danger _of every little centre having its own prices and you would thus have no fixity of mai'ket. If Government plans include any scheme for decentralising New Zealand produce, the men in charge at, this end would have to be extremely capable. They would probably be inclined to rush to the extreme in order to placate the producers, if it should happen that London was congested, and thus create surpluses in the outports. It would be Just the same with meat as with dairy produce. You would have the?e different places becoming fixers of market ■prices, and it would be difficult to know where you were." So far as the- Government meat pooling scheme was concerned, Mr. M'Farlans considered it was on the right lines. He slid there were far too many people handling New Zealand produce in Great Britain, and many of these people had not the resources to handle it as ifc should be handled. The result was that far too often markets had been demoralised unnecessarily by weak holders. ~