DAIRY PRODUCE CONTROL

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 108, 7 May 1926, Page 6

DAIRY PRODUCE CONTROL

ONE PRODUCER ONE VOTE

Mr. W. A. Veitch, the member for Wanganui, has addressed the following letter to the Prime Minister in regard to the proposed franchise for the election of the Dairy Control Board: — To the Eight Hon. the Prime Minister, Wellington. Sir, —I have the honour to bring under your notice further important inclination in connection with the method of elect ing the members of the Dairy Control Board. (1) All parties are agreed that the Doimmion shall be divided into nine ward% six for the North Island and three fcff the South Island, and that each ward shall elect one producers' representative to the Dairy Control Board. The points to be settled by Parliament are: (a) Wither the individual'producers or the factory directors in each ward are to do tke voting; and (b) whether the voting shall be on the basis of one producer one vojte or on a tonnage basis according to tie quantity of butter or cheese exported ttr each tactory. ■ (2) Many of the delegates to the Dairy Conference who voted in favour of ifce Control Board being elected by the factory directors stated frankly that thwr w. ere heartily in favour of the principle of each dairy producer having a vote, but lor all practical purposes they thought it would be better to leave the election!of the board in the hands of factory dinectors In other words, by casting thjeir fn * ffe 1 l aV°U/ £ f fac*ory direct°™ eating the board they disfranchised a large number of their suppliers who wantVi (3) After carefully analysing the whole position I am satisfied that less thauTsO per cent, of the dairy producers are in iavour ot the Hairy, Control Board bein" elected by factory directors. Likewi* I niM USV? CPrt' lin that over 70 cent of the dairy producers want the right of G&*softf °Wn re Presenta«ye oa th°e (f) The, idea of grading the value of each producer's vote according to the amount of butter or cheese exported by his factory is such a grossly unfair departure from the democratic principle of one man one vote that it woufa onlylead to further dissension throughout the dairying industry The Dairy Control Board proposes to bring compulsion into force on w£ A" 8? 8*! als to- ?eke and mark<* the whole of the Dominion's output of butter and cheese, whether a producer waitti it or not. In doing so, the board is tee*dmg on dangerous ground, legally and morally, and incidentally it raises a very fine point in constitutional law, but tfcat is not the matter under discussion. The noint J 1! to n?, g out » that on a matter Yh ■ h ,?° Vltally concerns the welfare of the individual producer, there is only one W*th ar : le™cratic PrinciPle of electing.the Control Board, and that is on the bas« of one producer one vote, ti. f tl hav.e. already pointed out to you that the unfair tonnage basis of voting at the recent Dairy Conference in WelGngton created very serious dissensions amongst the delegates, and failed?"™ .fleet the views of the dairy producer. Control Board on a tonnage bans would have precisely the same result. The Daky n «. Ac' wa/ brou|?ht into operation on.th, e basls of.one producer o»e vote Yodurs hefSul^ nClple Stm h°lds *«<*■- Wanganui, 6th May. W" A> VHITCH-