The Hawera Star. SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 1926. MARKETING OF DAIRY PRODUCE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 28 August 1926, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 1926. MARKETING OF DAIRY PRODUCE.

Delivered every evening by 5 o’clock in Hawera, Slanaia, Normanby, Okaiawa, Elthain, Mangatoki. Kaponga, Alton, Hurleyville, Patea, Waverley Mokoia, Whakarnara. Ohangai, Meremere, Eraser Road and Ararata.

In another column to-day we publish a table, prepared by the Dairy Produce Board (more commonly known as the Control Board), which shows the estimated monthly shipments of butter and cheese from the Dominion over tlio next twelve months. One of the objects of control is to regulate supplies and 'food the Home market all the year round. This is such a eoimnonsensc proposal, and one of which the advantages are so apparent, that it cannot but commend itself to all connected, with the industry, and the absence of criticism is not in any way remarkable. The wise housewife, when her fowls arc laying generously in the summer, puts by a stock of preserved eggs for use in t;he oil season. That is much the same thing as the Control Board will be doing this year with our butter and cheese. The essential difference is that while the housewife has only the one source of supply, the London market draws its dairy produce from several directions at varying seasons of the year. One way to spread out shipments would be to take the estimated annual production of 'the Dominion —2,400,000 boxes in tlio case of butter —divide it by twelve, and then ship 200,000 boxes every month. That, would be the height of bad business, for one of the compensations for our distance from the market is the fact that we are able to land the heaviest stocks of our fresh produce when European and other Northern Hemisphere supplies are bare. It would be folly, then, to throw away this advantage by making uniform shipments in each of the twelve months. Possibly the board’s allocation may have to he amended later in the light of experience, but meantime its plan is to work up to the peak of export in November, to hold steady over the months of the English winter and early spring and to case off when the home-produced, Continental and Canadian supplies will be going forward to the market. If the British consumer had no particular preference—if he used only cheese and butter, not caring what the quality or the taste—the analogy of the housewife and the eggs would not apply, for butter and cheese are available in England all the year round, and it would be to New Zealand’s interest, to dump the whole of her output on the market while Northern Hemisphere supplies were short. But in. deciding for a-more even distribution, the Control Board has taken into account- that section of the British public which prefers New Zealand butter and cheese. Modern advertising is everlastingly counselling us not to ask our grocer for tea, or starch or mustard, but to specify So-and-so’s make. Similarly, we should, be aiming to educate the British consumer to ask his shopkeeper for New Zealand butter and New Zealand cheese. But we cannot expect him to continue doing so for long if he finds that our products are available for only part of the year. Before we can help to establish and maintain that close, almost personal, connection with customers which is the aim of every alert manufacturer, whether of motor cars or breakfast food, we must do our part by guaranteeing continuous service. YVhat the Control Board .has had to do, therefore, is to pick a

middle course between the faults of missing the winter demand and of starving the all-the-year-round customer in summer. It may be a ticklish job, but the rewards should be worth the trouble. And part of that trouble, it is well to recognise, must be met at this end. Accessory to regulated shipments wo must have ample storage accommodation in New Zealand, and longer storage. Fortunately the accommodation is here as a legacy from, the war years, and the higher charges will be covered by the increased returns. But it is worth noting that the manager of the West Coast Refrigerating Company was at pains to point out to shareholders in his report presented to the recent annual meeting that running costs will of necessity be considerably higher next year, by reason of the extension of the shipping season. The only factory .shareholder to object to that will be the type who refuses to top dress because of the cost of the manure.