A RETROGRADE INDUSTRY

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 81, 7 April 1931, Page 8

A RETROGRADE INDUSTRY

Again is it necessary lo direct public attention to the cheese industry, one of ihe main sources of the wealth of the Dominion, At first glance this industry would seem lo bo Ihe dairy fanner's afl'air, and his alone. This is not so. In the list of exports of the Dominion, cheese occupies fourth place. The industry is, then, one of national importance, and yr'l. it. is no exaggeration to cicLTiili.1 i; a^ retrograde and last fall-

ling into disfavour will) the only free and open market lo which it can be exported. The unfortunate experience of the Dairy Board in its attempt lo control the price of butler and cheese in ihe British market left a bad impression there which lime and lact were successful in removing. Then came the so-called "standardisation" of cheese. That, 100, proved unfortunate in reawakening British trade hostility to New Zealand dairy produce. "'Standardisation" was therefore dropped for, what was worse, the designation of cheese made from partly skimmed milk as "New Zealand Cheddar," and again the British trade has been antagonised. It will not have standardised cheese masquerading as New Zealand cheddar cheese, it has said so in the most convincing way it can by the prices it is prepared to pay.

What is llie mysterious influence over this great cheese industry? It is very difficult lo answer, but this much can be said, and wil.li regret, that it is slipping backwards, lo the injury of the dairy farmer in the first place, to the loss of the Dominion as a whole indirectly. There is an axiom well known lo the drapery trade which the dairy industry has yet to learn and apply, and it is I his: "The customer is always right." It is a sound business axiom too. If the British trade demands cheese of a certain quality and character, and New Zealand can supply what is required, it is the dairy industry's duty lo supply that article or withdraw from ihe market. There is something wrong surely in allowing this great export industry to drift in the direction it is going. It cannot be for want of legislation or regulations specially framed in its interests; it has, of course, a Board of Control. What can be done to arrest its decline? - One answer is supplied by the "Hawera Star," and that is a thorough reorganisation of the industry with a view to exercising strictest control of the manufacture in the country of origin, and production of an article to which no objection can be taken, and which will satisfy the customer's requirements, and also give improved returns to the producer. The suggestion is necessarily nebulous at the moment, but may be regarded as a first step towards retrieving the good name of New Zealand cheese in the British market —practically our only market—and so in no small measure contributing towards the economic recovery of the Dominion.