The Hawera Star. TUESDAY, AUGUST 11, 1925. MARKETING DAIRY PRODUCE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 11 August 1925, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 11, 1925. MARKETING DAIRY PRODUCE.

Delivered every evening by 5 o’clock ’u Hawera, Manaia Norrnanby, Okaiawu, Eltbani, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Alton, Hiirleyvilie, Putea, Waverley, Mokoia, Whakarnara, Ohangai. Meremere, Fraser Road, an Ararata.

It i® estimated by tho«se cio.sely in touch with, /the market that, of approx,innately forty-two thousand tons of cheese which will be made in New Zealand between this and the close of 1925, fully thirty thousand torus, have been sold already’. The estimate is of interest in view of a. letter signed “South Taranaki” and appearing elsewhere in thus /issue. Taking as bis text the reported refusal oi one district factory to consider an otter which i.s stated on the best of authority to have been over 9|d per lb, our correspondent comments on the risk any company is. taking in passing by such a. figure in order to cousigitt Every factory knows its own business best, anil it may be assumed that each directorate is fully qualified to decide tor itself the question of selling versus consigning; but it may not be out of place to examine in some detail the cheese jwisiiithm as it is to-day. “Smith Taranaki” is perfectly right in his contention that 9id or 9£d —Jet alone 9 o-3d or 9 11-16d —is a really payable price, and one which will yield a payout per lb butter-fa,t substantially m advance of that which most factories have been able to make this year, lho suppliers of a factory which has sold on the basis of the recent otters are now in the position of being able to say with reasonable exactness what their return for the coming season should be. The suppliers of a factory whic-h consigns have rosy hopes it is true ; but they are only hopes. That, however, is no ground lor attack. Risk is an essentia! element in all business. If it. be true that faint heart never won fair lady—-winch is very open ro doubt in this age of decadent chivalry —it is at least equally true that fear of taking risks has carried no man to the topmost rungs of the commercial ladder. To condemn a dairy factory direc.toi-a’tU therefore, for ignoring a bird in the hand for the brace which may be hiding in the bushes of Dooley Street would be to admit the case of those who argue that farmers have no business ability. A minute’s reflection will convince every dairyman that the operation of his own limn is beset by constant risks of one kind or another, .and the risk a- directorate takes in consigning is only the same thing on a larger scale. Nevertheless, a distinction has to.be drawn between venturing to make a first profit and venturing to make a bigger pro-

tit. If buyers in New Zealand were offering only 7d, for example, many more factories would favour consigning, because 7<l would not promise the same profitable pay-out as does 9Jd. in such circumstances consigning could be justified further a,s an elfort to secure tor The farmer a lair return for bis labour and capital investments When he can be. certain of a, fair and profitable return by selling f.0.b., the de-cision-ib consign must-be considered in a Slightly different Jight. Doubtless directors are influenced largely by the financial position of their supplying shareholders. A farmer who is working very’ close to the margin will i usually prefer a certainty ro the best of prospects, tbe more especially when the certainty —soiling f o.b. —will guarantee him an immediate return, whereas the prospect, while it may bring more to his pocket ultimately, will necessitate months of delay befoie final settlement is made. To fake a concrete example : Some factories which consigned bust year have sold this season’s output, or at any rate part of it. If any- of last season’s make has still to reach tbe market, suppliers, will be receiving payment almost in full for this .season’s make before they have their final returns from last seaison. That is a point, which has always -to be considered. On the whole it is neither selling nor consigning which is open to criticism it pursued as a general .policy’, but. constant chopping and changing. Two factories, one making selling and the other making consigning its regular course over a number of years, may expect just treatment from, the law oi averages. There will always be disgruntled shareholders —-directors would wonder what was wrong if there were not —but the generaL result of following out a definite course of action is ais a rule satisfactory. So far as this one season goes, those factories which have sold until the end of December with an understanding that the balance of the output is l to go forward on consignment cannot very well fail to come out right. They stand to catch something of what is going either way. Opponents of control are interpreting the rapid buying up of all available outputs as a, shrewd move on the part of Tooley Street, which, they contend, sees boom prices ahead and is doing its utmost to ensure that New Zealand shall not /share in them. ‘J-’liis view is based to a, certain eTTent on tne present value of Canadian cheese on the London wholesale market —cheese which will be selling with ours in January-February and which is being bought at a price per owt suggesting that the best offers being made in New Zealand are well below value. Maybe this carries some weignr, but, as our correspondent “South Taranaki” points out, Bradford misjudged the wool market. e There does not seem to be any absolute proof that Tooley Street, either, is infallible.