DAIRY CONTROL

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 2, 2 July 1926, Page 8

DAIRY CONTROL

DEBATE IN THE HOUSE

THE COMPULSION CLAUSE

BTVAL FACTIONS.

The subject of dairy control •'sprang into the picture," as.one of tho new members put it, early in the Addrc3S-in-Reply discussion in the House of Representatives yesterday, and practically monopolised the talk for-tho remainder of the sitting. Mr. J. R. Hamilton (Awarua) said there could be no partial control; the best control was' absoluto control, and using as much of it as was necessary to achieve their objects. Tho policy of the Dairy''Control Board would put everyone on tho same footing, and he did not -sco that any exception could be.taken to that. Proprietary concerns would be dealt with tho same as anyone else. The board would fix the minimum price on the London market, according to what was considered a fair figure. At present the market was controlled by the speculator, who manipulated things to his own advantage. Such a situation was not in the interests of the farmers and the people. Mr. M. J; Savage (Auckland West) : "This i 3 a case of socialism." ■ The speaker admitted there was a certain amount of socialism in what he was saying. Tho Eeform Party was prepared to pick the eyes out of the Labour Party's socialistic platform and reject what was bad. : (Laughter.) The people who handled the produce, ho said, were only concerned about making as much out of, it for themselves as they could, and they took good care to keep as far as possible from the kicking end of the cow. (Laughter.) Unless there was absolute control, the uncontrolled portion of industry would compete against tho controlled. "GROUP ACTION." Mr. F. Waite (Clutha) said that land values in the country districts fluctuated because of the fluctuating prices obtained on the oversea markets, which was not good for tho country. Co-op-erative marketing was no new thing; it was being adopted all over.the world. Group problems must be tackled by group action. Arguing in this way,.the speaker justified produce control, under which no distinction was made between produce from different parts of tho Dominion. Tho only way to tackle the marketing problem was by group action. Go-operative marketing would not solve all difficulties. It could not eliminate all tho middlemen, but it would cut out all but the useful ones. Ho could understand, therefore, why money was being spent in propaganda by those who saw they were going to suffer under dairy produce control.l ' The chief object of the co-operative marketing scheme was to get the produce quickly into the hands of the consumers; it was not to hold it up so as to reap the benefit of high prices. To accumulate supplies of produce ■would defeat the very object of the scheme. At present, ho pointed out, the farming class were the only people ■who did not get reasonable protection. The farmer's difficulty was that he could not get protection. He had to cell his produce in the open markets of the world. Referring to the ward system, the speaker agreed that it enabled the producers to know who th.ey were voting for, but the principle of one man one vote was not going to be in the interests of the dairy industry. The people who were backing the ward system had consistently opposed control because of their interests. "We say," he said, '' that the people who threw the tea into Boston Harbour were quite right. .. . Taxation- without representation is unjust. Conversely, representation without taxation is also unjust." If a company exported five tons of butter it should have a voting power of five tons. He repudiated the suggestion that the dairy control scheme was Government control; the Government, he said, had very wisely kept out of it. Despite rovulsions of feeling, the producers stood solid behind control. He wanted to know where the money being spent , \ipon propaganda against control was coming from. . An Opposition voice: "Don't you know?" "We must withhold some of our information for other occasions," replied the speaker. Perhaps other members could tell the House. Some people, he said, were apt to be amused at farmera, with their uncouth language and their inability to express themselves properly, coming to Parliament and talking on such questions. "I don't know," he remarked, "that I would not be happier back with the cows that I know so well, lather than with some of the people who at the present time are doing their very best to throw dust in the eyes of tho intelligent dairy farmers of New Zealand." CONTROL OP MINORITY BY A MAJORITY. "I rather object to tho hon. gentleman placing nic .on the levol of a cow," observed the Bight Hon. Sir Joseph Ward (Invercargill), amidst- laughter. "On the broad principle of humanity I don't believe in putting a cow in the position of tho owner of the cows. The hon. member argued that a man who had 50 cows should have -50 votes. I hold that the man who has 50 cows should havo one vote. I hold that the small cow-owner of yesterday is the largo cow-owner of to-day, and- yesterday he was entitled to one vote. . . . If wo are going to bring members of Parliament and intelligent people of the farming districts down to tho level of a cow, lot us havo an election and let us give the cows a vote." (Laughter.) Sir Joseph said the control question could not bo allowed to drift. Everyone was interested in dairying. Ho did not believe in any law compelling a minority of men to bo under the eontrolof a majority in tho same business, and havo their business dependent.upon the majority. That was wrong. It was unsound in principled No one would like to be treated in tho same way in connection with his own private interests. ■ . . . A Labour member: "It ib done'every clay. What about State control?" Sir Joseph said there was a difference between State control and industry control. The Hon. W. Nosworthy: "What about liquor?" "The hon. member knows more about that than I do," replied th:i speaker, who went on to say ths.t everybody wanted to see the dairy farmer getting the highest possible price for his produce, and getting fair treatment. "OBNOXIOUS, INIQUITOUS, UNBRITISH." Mr. J. A. Kash (Palmerston) said the control question involved- tho right of the producer to do what ho liked with that which he produced. Of necessity there must be Home who'must supply local needs. Personally lie had always had a feeling of distrust that tho compulsory clause would bo introduced. It was obnoxious, iniquitous, and un-British. Nothing hau happened to justify tho board in its present action. It had been promised that tho compulsory' clause was intended only as a sort of policeman. - r Members: "Who said that?" The speaker quoted the- late Mr. l£»ssoy as stating that the clause must

bo iuelujled in tho Bill in case it was ever required to be used. Mr. J. R. Hamilton: "It is required now." Mr. Nash: "That is not the opinion of .i large section of the farmers today." Nothing, he contended, had occurred to warrant the board taking such high-handed action. He advised the Primo Minister to hold over compulsion until he went away, when lie could make inquiries in the Old Country. The charges made by the board upon some of tho small companies were outrageous. Ho asked what tho levies made 1 the board were being collected for. Mr. J. R. Hamilton: "A fighting fund." If the board did not propose to erect cool stores in England, said -.lr. Nash, it should not inflict such heavy charges upon tho farming community; simply to accumulate and invest the moneys. It was to the credit of the Meat Board that it had not exercised co- pulsion. The time had arrived when there shouM be one vote to each producer. Voting on the tonnage basis was manifestly unfair. The House should have an opportunity to express its opinion on compulsion. He would take the first opportunity to introduce a clause staying tho compulsory power for at least twelve months. The Hon. W. Nosworthy: "You will | bo defeated." Mr. Nash said it would not be the first, time. He quoted figures to show that there was not unanimity amongst the producers on the question of control, and he asked why a pistol should b' held at the heads of the producers. "Now Zealand has gone control mad," ho said. "Everything is under control. Soviet Eussia is not in it." "PURE, UNADULTERATED COMMUNISM." Saying that he wished to deal with the question from an impartial viewpoint, Mr. W. A. Veiteh (Wanganui) spoke of the financial effect of control, and pointed to the meat industry as an instance. He suggested that the dairy produce scheme had been badly thought out from the beginning. The greatest need of the industry was the confidence and goodwill of the people of the Old Country. Compulsory control meant the nationalisation of the land through the produce it produced. It went further than that: it was pure, unadulterated Communism. Lenin had declared that you could not pass from capitalism to Communism without passing through a period of Socialistic regulation1 and control. New Zealand was starting off on the transition from capitalism '■-> Communism. We should guard against departing from the great principles upon which our Empire was based. He appealed to Parliament not to follow the lines Lenin had followed and found to be wrong. Mr. E. Walter (Stratford) said the matter was left to a non-party vote. He could not understand the attitude of those who wero now • protesting against the control, as the matter had beon decided by the suppliers themselves. It was necessary to keep tin speculators out of the London market. He was sure that if produce could be kept in first-class condition it would be for the good of the Dominion. '' The extraordinary misunderstanding of the Dairy Control Act" was referred to by Mr. C. E. Macmillan (Tauranga), who said the board was simply tho - natural evolution of the cooperative system. He hoped the Gov.ernment would not be so weak-kneed ac to remove the compulsory clause fr . the Act. How could there be complete regulation of produce supplies without compulsion1? Mr. G. W. Forbes (Huruuui): "How do they regulate the shipping of frozen meat?" Mr. Macmillan maintained that there was a form 6f compulsion. "They stop f.o.b. selling," he said, "and you can't regulate supplies unless you do so." If compulsion was removed in connection with the dairy industry, they might just as well do <away with the board altogether.