MARKETING BOARD

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 48, 6 September 1928, Page 8

MARKETING BOARD

HELPING THE EMPIRE SUBSIDIES TO RESEARCH HOW N.Z. BENEFITS To many x the Empire Marketing Board may be but a name. But behind its coloured posters, exhibitions, Press advertisements, lectures, and window dressing competitions, which contribute to its publicity campaign, lies "longrange and wide-range research" (a happy phase coined at the Imperial Agricultural Besearch Conference), work destined to influence profoundly the solution of the network of problems which lie behind the curtherance of thef marketing of Empire produce. The establishment of the board two years or so ago was described at the time as something "noyol to Government." The experiment is now past its initial'stages, and/he interests .and activities of the board have increased and multiplied to a far greater extent than originally anticipated. The board itself undertakes no scientific research work; in recommending grants it has been consistently guided by the different Government organisations, whether at Home or oversea, that are best qualified to advise it. The board has continued to regard its prime function as the furtherance j of basic research work, applicable sometimes to the whole of the Empire but always to more than one of its countries. It has deliberately chosen the part of sustaining scientific enterprises, whoso wide bearing or distant range removed them from the scope, of any single Empire Government. A year ago it was explained that certain fields of scientific research alone had as yet come under the board's review, and that the short time during which the board had been at work, as well as the relatively advanced stage reached in the staffing and equipment of the United Kingdom institutions, had led to a predominance of grants being made to Home organisations. These considerations still apply. But it is hoped that it will prove possible in the future to strike a just balance not\ merely between the various branches of agricultural research but between their developments in the different Empire countries. It will take years before that desired balance, can be reached. But oversea Governments are already coming to realise this policy more clearly and to appreciate the ppssibilities which it affords of research work upon a truly co-operative basis. This year grants from the Empire Marketing Fund have been extended to countries and to fields of science which found no place in last year's record. Further developments will undoubtedly take place as a result of such meetings and discussions between the various workers on the research side of Empire production as took placo at the Imperial Agricultural Research, Conference. It is the board's policy to pro-, mote such meetings whenever circumstances permit. FEUITS ALREADY SHOWING. The question is often asked whether the work of the board has increased the consumption of Empire products in the United Kingdom in a degree commensurate with its expenditure. The programme of the board, as seen from its second report, is planned to take effect over a considerable period, and much of its work could not have shown direct results within two years. In any case the question is one which cannot well be answered in any simple statistical form. But the board has received muoh evidence that its wqrk has materially strengthened the demand for Empire produce in the United Kingdom and has definitely increased the sale of particular Empire commodities. While it would not claim that the increased importation of Empire products during the last few years has been even mainly due to its own efforts, it ia of interest to record that upon the basis of the price levels of 1924 the value of imports from Empire countries to the United Kingdom rose from £386,000,000 in 1924 to £420,000,000 in 1927—an increase of nearly 9 per cent, in a period during which the population is estimated to have increased by li per cent. It is. of interest also to record, as showing the growing dependence of employment ;in tho. United .Kingdom upon the development of the oversea parts of the British Empire, that the value of the exports of British produce and manufactures from the United Kingdom to Empire countries, calculated on the same basis, rose from £334,000,000 in 1924 to nearly £380,000,000^ in 1927—an increase of 13 per cent. As between the same years, the corresponding exports from the United Kingdom to foreign countries, calculated on the same basis, fell by 5 per cent. In 1924 the Empire- overseas absorbed 41.7 per cent, of the United Kingdom's exports. In 1927 the percentage had risen to 46.1. DOMINION'S SHARE OP GRANTS. Out of the £1,000,000 granted to the board it is interesting to see from its report how far New Zealand directly benefits, although naturally' much indirect benefit will be derived from researches made elsewhere. There is £2000 a year for two years for research on the mineral content of pastures; a slightly larger sum for .five years towards the establishment of a plant breeding and seed research station at the Massey'College, Palmerston North; and a similar amount for five years towards, the research at the Cawthron Institute, Nelson, into the entomological control W noxious weeds. Appreciative references are made in, th" re- ; port to the work being done in these I directions. Mention is also made of the export to the Dominion of five tons of a special flax seed. "Let us cultivate easy intercourse," wrote Lord Balfour in nis preface to the report of the Research Sub-committee of the Imperial Conference of 1926, "and full co-operation will follow." The Empire Marketing Board has been impressed from the day of its appointment with the vital importance of securing that those who are engaged in tho diverse processes of Empire marketing should become personally acquainted with each other and with the conditions in different parts of tho Empire. The report notes with satisfaction the visits to England of Dr. C. J. Reakes, Director-General of tho Department of Agriculture, and of Mr. G. Shirtcliffe, chairman of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. The visits to New Zealand of Mr. Amery, Dr. Orr, Dr. Hill, and Sir John Russell are also commented upon. "These journeys," says the report, "have imposed a certain immediate strain upon the board and its staff and upon some of the leading Homo scientific institutions. The board is well satisfied that they have been of great advantage to its own work, which indeed could not be carried on unless both its members and Us officers maintained a constantly renewed touch with the Empire overseas. It believes that they may havo been of service also to tho oversea parts of tho Empire, of whoso kindly and hospitable entertainment every travoller returning is a witness." BOARD'S PUBLICITY POLICY. The board, at the outset of its work, decided that its main public appeal should be directed less to advertise particular commodities than to interest the public in the Empire and its develop-

ment, and so creato a favourable setting for the activities of those concerned with tho sale of individual Empire products. This policy has been, confirmed in tho light of experience. during the last year. The board accordingly has not presented in the Press or on ■ the hoardings frequent advertisements of particular commodities. Such adver- } tiscmen'ts hf ye boon occasional only— designed as demonstrations of the underlying theme of Empiro supply, and not as continuing publicity for special products. The oversea parts of tho Empire have been quick to take advantage of this opportunity of using the background of publicity created by the board. The Australian authorities have pursued during tho year active campaigns of advertisement on behalf of Australian dried fruits, butter, and apples, and are now bringing canned fruits into their publicity programme. Tho New Zealand authorities have engaged in publicity directed to tho selling of New Zealand butter, cheese, meat, apples, and honey. The Government of the Union of South Africa has increased its appropriation for advertising-in the United Kingdom. The Canadian Government has lately transferred to the United Kingdom its entire exhibition equipment and staff. Posters, newspaper advertisements, exhibitions, shopping weeks, window dressing competitions,, lectures, broadcasting, the cinema, arid publication all play a part in the board's publicity work, the underlying motive being to advertise an idea rather than a. commodity. ' »