EGG MARKETING

Evening Star, Issue 25004, 25 October 1943, Page 5

EGG MARKETING

TO TUE EDITOR. , Sir,—H is with interest that I read in last night's ' Star ' about " The Complete Muddle of Marketing of Eggs "—by the Internal Marketing Division, or, in other words, the Government. 1 would like lo put the producer's point of view before your readers, because in every article sponsored by the merchants (he prc-ducer (the man who actually does the work) takes all the risks and is. always in the wrong. He is accused of black marketing and all. the other horrible evils that go to reduce his (the merchant's) income—i.e., commissions and tho other " perks " which used to go with the business, and there aro many of these when one. studies the account sales, such as different grades, blood spots, cracks, stale and dirty eggs, etc., plus the 7J?, pe,r cent, commission.

I contend that there is only one person who is capable of handling and selling his eggs, and that is the producer himself Egjjs are a perishable and a fragile commodity, and.when they are roughly handled as in the case of days gone by, left to sit on a merchant's floor for" a fortnight at a time, they soon deteriorate, and the worst feature of the whole sorry business is that the producer has to stand the loss of breakages and indifferent handling, a factor over which he has ho control.

There was no doubt that some sort of control was needed lo put the industry on a satisfactory basis, and I think that had the regulations as they were originally gazetted, been adhered to that Avould have been all that was required, but the pressure 'that has been brought to bear from interested parties other than the producer is the cause of all the muddle and decline of production to-day. The Government has certainly not enforced the regulations in Dunedin as it has in other centres; but I will make this bold statement, that it has had less trouble with rationing and distribution of eggs in Dunedin than in any other centre, for • the simple reason that the producer and the grocer have had to do all the rationing. Also, no body of poultry farmers in New Zealand lias assisted and co-operated with the Government, in.a tatter manner than the Dunedin and Taieri producers have when an emergency or a- rush shipment of eggs was required. The Government has been trying through its organisers to handle- the egg situation, but tilings are by far in a worse plight uow than whon they started, and 1 say without any animosity or ill-feeling that it should,'scrap the egg floors and compulsory regulations and revert to the original, regulations. It is not a'disgrace to abandon I a scheme that has been tried' and found j wanting. They had a precedent in England 1 lately, where a scheme similar to ours was I tried and proved a dismal failure. , One of • the biggest drawbacks to tho scheme at the present time is the disparity in prices in the different centres. Otago and Southland have the lowest in New Zealand, and that is brought about by two; factors. One is faulty representation on the Poultry Board. The other was the merchant who forced down the price to'enable him to make pulp and also supply the pastrycooks at a reduced price. When stabilisation came' into force the producers in. this area were in the unfortunate position of having too low a price, but the same factor is now operating against the Government, only in the reverse to what it did in our case, and is chiefly responsible for the failure of the regulations to-day. Wbereas in our case the pastrycooks forced the price down, they now pay 3d per dozen (and I have heard that 6d- per dozen has been offered) abovo the regulation i price, thereby crippling the whole regulations. ' ..

In your leader in last night's ' Star ' you mention that the small man is the mainstay of production. That is open to question, but be that as it may, there is cer. tainly an evolution going on in the industry to-day, and that is fliat nearly all the poultry farmers in a large way are turning their farms into hatchery businesses, which is -by far more profitable than producing eggs' under the price of production, a'he Department of Agriculture went exhaustively into the- price of production, and it proved that eggs cost Is 9-£d per dozen to produce. We are now compelled to sell at Is 6d per dozen. Is it any wonder that production has fallen, and is it likely that there will be any improvement until fins state' of affairs is remedied? The poultry farmer to-day will only keep enough birds to meet his stock requirements, and then the whole of the egg business will be in the hands of the small man, and it, will be definitely impossible to control it at all I .am, etc., W. Denford, Vice-president, Otago Poultry Producers' Association. Wingalui, October 23.