TO SURVIVE SLUMP

Evening Star, Issue 21009, 25 January 1932, Page 7

TO SURVIVE SLUMP

VALUE OF TECHNICAL ADVISERS URGED

DR MARSDEN'S FAITH “It is your technical advisers who are going to pull you through the present ' depression,” declared Dr E. Marsden, of AVelliugton, Director of the Scientific and Industrial Research Department, in a vigorously delivered and informative address given to members of the Auckland Rotary Club. The burden of 'the address was that New Zealanders have as yet failbd to appreciate the. definite bearing which science has on the welfare of the community, and are only prepared to pay for second-hand technical advice, where only the best available is good enough. Dr Marsden’s talk was listened to with close interest by Rotarians, who, as' business leaders, were appealed to by the speaker to give a lead to the country in the national planning of industry. If this were not done, lie declared, the employees, instead of winning back ot their former prosperous condition, would be struggling for a bare existence at the level of a European peasant population. It was true that in the big international affairs New Zealand was relatively in the position of a very small tail to a very large dog, yet there was too great a tendency to allow things to drift instead of tackling our problems with initiative and boldness.

It was the progressive attitude that counted, and the psychological effect of a (concerted forward move was out of all proportion to the effort that produced it, since it brought hope and purpose to a community. BUTTER AND CHEESE.

Touching upon the possibilities of increased revenue from exports, Dr Marsden , said in regard to the dairy industry , that despite extraordinary progress in the past ten years, our farmers were now faced with a serious position. Competition from other parts and Britain’s reduced spending power were the chief factors. He suggested that in this, as in some other industries, wo had not been watching the special need of the markets well enough. Right back to the source of production we must go to obviate any troubles which interfered with the marketing. He quoted an instance where he had seen various butters spread on scones in a London restaurant. The New Zealand butter was well out of it from the point of view of “ spreadability.” We might have to take up the case of exporting dried butter and treat it according to the varying needs of the market at the other end of the world. He found other difficulties in regard to our cheese. In' its production, a controlled operation using bacteria as a basis was a chief factor ; and here again a great amount of information had been obtained which should be utilised to meet the requirements of a market. It was to-day more necessary' than over that they should have delivered to the factory standard cream and the manufacturing process adapted to the latest achievements of science. A better knowledge of fertilisers was needed by farmers, who in some cases were only getting 33J per cent, of efficiency, and this was from material that was- imported. Rationalisation was needed to prevent overlapping in cartage of dairy products. MEAT EXPORTS. Touching upon the meat export trade, Dr Marsden said that New Zealand first-class lamb was bringing 2£d per lb less than English. The difficulty was not insuperable, but unfortunately our people had not fully realised the position, and the latest achievements in various forms of research were not being utilised. In' regard to by-products, we could substantially increase our returns by special* attention to processing. Meat offals also presented an important field for profitable investigation. The pig export industry had the stage set for a big development. The problems in connection therewith were known, and could be dealt with if the interests took them up from a national aspect. WOOL “ THE BLACK SHEEP.” Wool was the black sheep in our exports at present, but some gains could be registered by attention to classification for'marketing and the avoidance of waste in freights through vessels calling at too many ports, and in other ways.

The phormium industry had been allowed to stagnate as a consequence of neglect of markets’ requirements, and growers of sisal had taken our place. This position could be regained, for plants available from Massey College would, produce twice as well as others,

and the product could be marketed at £lO per ton, f.o.b. The speaker also said with regard to the kauri gum trade that we had allowed this to almost simply through inattention to marketing. In consequence we had let other people get in with a synthetic article when we had a better article to sell. Touching briefly on the secondary industries, the speaker said that while it uas not safe to rely upon exchange fluctuations as a proof, there M’ere many industries, which could be increasingly developed, particularly those using our own raw materials*