DAIRY INDUSTRY

Evening Star, Issue 19388, 23 October 1926, Page 2

DAIRY INDUSTRY

CONTROL BOARD DEFENDED COMPANY DIRECTOR'S VIEWS [Per United Press Association.] HAMILTON, October 22. The cause of the present slump in dairy produce has little or nothing to do with control, according to Mr W. Goodfellow, managing director of the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company, who gave a ‘ Waikato Times ’ representative his views on the dairy situation, and commented upon certain phases of the Economic Committee’s report recently published, “ The report of the Economic Committee,” said Mr Goodfellow, “ not only fails to unearth any facts not previously well known to the industry in New Zealand, but makes recommendations which, are definitely known not to be either necessary or advisable to adopt. For instance, the report strongly recommends the adoption of winter dairying to enable New Zealand to follow the lead of Denmark, which has arranged its production to bo able to ship fresh butter to England all the year round. New Zealand butter takes two months to reach Great Britain, and for that reason has to be made dilFerently from the Danish article, which will not keep more than a few weeks. For this reason Danish butter must go into immediate consumption, whereas New Zealand butter grading 93 points and up will keep well for many months. Indeed, when our control sample boxes are regraded in New Zealand after many months’ storage, it has been found conclusively that the deterioration up to six months is very little. Such being the case, why waste time and money with a very costly winter milking system. I say, without hesitation, that winter dairying throughout New Zealand other than in North Auckland will prove profitable only to those who can supply fluid milk to the cities at about the price they would receive it this milk were converted into butter for export. “ Another point raised in the committee’s report is open to question. The holding of large stocks of butter in New Zealand will frequently be found to be inadvisable. The only safe place to hold heavy stocks is at the market, where they pan be quickly released in large quantities when required. Our own policy has always been to ship all our produce, and then regulate the sales in London according to the requirements of the market. The knowledge that each season’s produce must go into consumption before the next comes along should prevent any company holding up supplies. “ Many companies throughout New Zealand are seriously disturbed at the recent slump in the market. These companies held back their produce by putting fancy limits on it, and during the past three years this policy has given excellent results. The companies are apparently not aware of the danger they have run each year. More by good fortune than by good management, they have evaded a similar catastrophe each year. On several occasions during tile past few years merchants have predicted such a slump, and on each occasion 140 s has been the figure indicated. That at last has come. Merchants now say that control did it They and we know perfectly well that control did not. The present chaotic state of the market is the strongest possible argument in favor of national control, and is due largely to the following causes in order of importance:— 1. The economic position of Great Britain due to the coal strike. 2. The heavy summer production in Europe. 3. The release of large stocks in London held at fixed limits by factories. 4. The passive resistance by speculative merchants objecting to control. “ Old stocks must be cleared. The right thing for factories to do is to cut their losses, and once the market is cleared we can quite expect to see the price back to 170 s. I admit that speculators, brokers, and inefficient ' distributors will continue to do their utmost to obstruct, but their efforts will certainly fail if only the producers will be loyal to their own class. The question is, Will they have the backbone to stick to it? ” The Auckland province was, concluded Mr Goodfellow, prepared to give the board the required backing, but it was open to question whether Taranaki and the South Island had sufficient backbone to stand up to criticism and stick it out. Now was the testing time, and the dairy farmers of the dominion must either go forward and consolidate what they had gained, or stop hack and remain ter many years at the bottom of the ladder.