DAIRY CONTROL.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 5 November 1926, Page 7

DAIRY CONTROL.

(To the Editor..) Sir.—lt is a pity that those papers and people who applaud the recent weakening of the Dairy Control Board ai*e not prepared to put their principles into more general practice. Brought down to elementals, this struggle is one between tlie producer, who wants all he c-an get from the business. and the speculator who thrives on the rise and fall in the market. The .iiflereuce between the old proposals a* to market reserve and the new arrangementi, is merely a concession to the speculator and is a. direct win for the anti-control people. 'l"he board is appointing ‘/agents’’ (it’s a pity the board was not a. little more diplomatic in its phraseology). considered those firms which have been buying our butter for noilspeculative purposes. Had the decision of the board been unjust, tlie time to k*ck was alien that decision was made. Fill thermore. the board’s manager. Mr. VUglit, demands . information as io what i.s going to be done with any large quantities of butter bought. The speculative element of Tooley Street wishes a place in the sun. It does not kick against tlie board’s decisions, it merely endeavours to* upset them. One of Us moves is to get rid of Mr. W right—prelerring any old Air. Wrong. An other is to capture the board. It was to this latter end that t'he voting question was raised and the immediate result of the last election is. a decision which allows Tooley Street, as a whole, including the gamblers, to arrange the quotations. Taking the principle a little further: Why not let all interested in newspaper advertising have a say in the price? Why not extend ic to bread ns well saw butter, to flour, sugar, mustard, iron. wire. coal, etc? Why not give the farmers and the '"’hole general public a say ip the rate of exchange, ■in insurance rates and even in rates of wages? 'Probably the gain would be immense. even if a few people did ha.ve to* turn their hands to something more useful. I am. etc., A. K. ROBINSON. Auckland. October 30.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —In some quarters it is being taken for granted that the decision oi the court in the Waitaki Dairy Company’s case settles once and for all the legality of the Control Act, and that its opponents are hopelessly wrong in their contentions. TJiis idea is absolutely incorrect. Dairy farmers are not under any delusion about the scope of the Act. “ They are quite aware that under the Act—to use the words of the Judges—the power of the board “is apparently unqualified and unlimited in its operation,’’ and that therefore all exported produce and companies manufacturing it come under control. What farmers, and all who realise that, a blow vs aimed at British freedom, do intend is that the Act itself is. to use a legal term, “ultra vires,’’ because of its violation of constitutional law and libetry, which provides that apart from bis duty to the State a British subject is free to use and do with his own what lie pleases, so long as by so doing be. does neither injury nor injustice to his fellow citizens.* This aspect of the case was at least indirectly before the court, but the Judges carefully refrained from expressing any opinion whatever on the point. The court’s judgment merely amounts to what we all knew before, that according to the Control Act all companies exporting dairy pro tiuce are under the board’s jurisdiction, but that a grave doubt exists as to whether control can be exercised over produce* not yet manufactured. As 1 have pointed out. the wider and infinitely mote important phase of the situation—the soundness and legality of the Act itself —is not even referred to in/the judgment. Whether the plaintiffs failed to make this a cardinal point in their case*, or whether the Judges declined to give a decision on a point of such vast importance, I am not in a position to say. The fact remains that our position is in no way impaired, but somewhat. improved, by the court’s decision. There is one course and one only open to all who value and prize our ages old freedom and liberty—to fight on till justice again prevails. Carry on.— I .am, etc.,

GEORGE GIBSON ffahotu. November 1, 1926.