DAIRY CONTROL BOARD.

Evening Star, Issue 20263, 26 August 1929, Page 12

DAIRY CONTROL BOARD.

IQ IBM SDITOJI. , Sir, —The; leading article under the above caption in your issue of I.oth hist, must surely have been written without due consideration being given to the question. What is the position? The New Zealand Exporters’ Association, the members of which are men whoso interest in the dairy industry is mainly the commission they , make out of the industry, represent, and carry out in New. Zealand the instructions of the firms in Tooley street they represent. Tim services of these Tooley street firms have been extolled many times, over in all sections of our Press—and rightly so. What is this vile thing that these Tooley street firms now desire to impose on our long-suffering dairymen? All butter and cheese exported from the dominion are graded according to quality into three grades, namely, finest, first, and second grades. Under the co-operative marketing scheme tried by the Dairy Board some two years ago all butter and cheese exported from the dominion were paid for according to quality, the definite result of such payments being a distinct improvement in the quality of our produce. 'The co-operative marketing scheme of the 'board ,was, for reasons not yet understood by dairymen and the public generally, not given a fair trial, and was dropped when on the eve of success. When co-operative marketing was dropped so was the payment for butter and cheese according to quality dropped. And with what result? A remarkable drop in the quality of our produce, . particularly in respect to cheese. This unfortunate, but nevertheless true, fact has been impressed on us many times this last few months by experts from London who have recently visited the dominion and by the grading figures of the Department of Agriculture. The secretary of the South Island Dairy Association states that “the contracts are . . . a deliberate attempt to lower the value of, our butter and cheese.” In my opinion the action of the London importers and New Zealand exSorters and members of our Dairy oard is a. deliberate attempt to raise the quality of our butter and cheese, and if they are successful iu raising the quality then undoubtedly the price will be raised, or at any rate the price will be held at a higher level than it would be if the quality is allowed lo slip back as it has been doing. It seems to me to bo an unanswerable argument that prices cannot be maintained if quality is not improved. Business men .the world over agree that quality in most commodities commands better prices than those for inferior articles. If that be so, is there any reasonable argument why finest quality butter and cheese should not command higher prices than for inferior grades? I take it that the Tooley street merchants iu London who handle our butter and cheese know the requirements of their customers, and if these customers, when purchasing’ their requirements in the dominion in preference to purchasing the goods on their arrival in London, are willing to pay. a better price for quality, why refuse it? Just because it has been usual to pay the same price for finest grade as for first grade is no earthly reason why what has been proved to he a had practice should be continued. If the buyer is willing to pay a higher price for finest quality the producer should grab it with both hands. Such payments will have the effect of making those factories that do not make the finest articles set about getting their house in order, which will he all to the good of the industry and the, whole dominion will benefit thereby. The whole question is bound up in the problem of the raw material —the conditions obtaining and the quality of the raw material on the farm. .The time is long overdue when the dairy regulations should bo strictly enforced. The industry has reached such an important stage in our welfare that it should be separated from the Department of Agriculture with a Minister of the Dairy Industry in charge of the new department—a Minister strong enough to bring about compulsory national farm dairy instruction and payment for the raw , material according to qualitv. Meantime, producers of finest quality raw material should welcome the action of the London importers, the New Zealand exporters, and members of our Dairy Board, in their effort to stop the dominion slipping further back in the matter of the quality of our produce.—l am, etc.,.. Watchdou . August 23.