A VALUABLE SUGGESTION.

Hawera Star, Volume L, 29 July 1930, Page 4

A VALUABLE SUGGESTION.

The resolution adopted at yesterday’s meeting of the Taranaki Dairy Federation, requesting the Department of Agiiculturc to appoint two or more New Zealand cheese factory managers to go to England for the purpose of studying the taste of the Home consumer, embodies a suggestion of the utmost value and one that should be given favourable consideration by the Department. The official* answer to this request may not be very satisfactoij and it is possible to imagine the Department explaining that, as this is a time for economy and, further, as both Dr. Realms and Mr Singleton have visited England, within recent years, "The Department regrets etc. ’ Such a reply should not be accepted by the dairymen of Taranaki now that they have given proof, by their adoption of a voluntary levy and premium system, of their willingness to make an effort to set their own house in order, ft is true that the heads of Government departments have visited England and returned with reports on the conditions found there; it j s a ] so treu that the Department have at least two experts at Home who know as much about New Zealand cheese and its condition upon arrival at London i as any men. But, for reasons which need not be gone into at the moment (it being our intention to say some- j thing more to-morrow on the subject of the Dairy Division and its relations! with the industry) these existing lines of communication do not suffice. A fact which the industry in New Zealand has been slow in seizing upon is.

that it is not sufficient to make cheese in huge bulk, ship It. overseas and then sit down to await a cheque. No private enterprise of comparable importance conducts it business on such lines. Private enterprise, depending wholly .upon one market for the absorption of a huge output, would not consider money expended on keeping itself informed as to the manner of the recep.tion of its goods as money ill-spent. It is highly probable that the New Zealand dairyman has quite a lot to learn about the Home consumer. At present some believe that the ultimate goal for the New Zealand cheese industry should be a price comparable with Canada’s highest return, it being forgotten that Canada obtains her maximum price only for well-matured cheese and that after storage and other charges have been deducted, the Canadian farmer does not receive much more per lb. than the New Zealand farmer does for his good quality article. Another factor to be considered is that Canada’s product is not purchased by the masses of the people, but goes to a more or less select group of consumers. ■ New Zealand cannot hope to compete in that- market—at least not to the exclusion of all other markets. With her large, and increasing output, New Zealand must look to the “mass market” as the consumer of the bulk of her produce, but this mass market must hot be treated with contempt; it has shown that it is quite capable of treating inferior cheese with even greater contempt. It is known by the trade at Home that certain districts prefer a coloured cheese, while others (like a white; waxing might improve the demand in one area and depress it in another. The factory which sets itself out to study the consumer’s taste cannot afford to accept generalised statements on that difficult subject: Further, it. appears that “rationalisation ’ ’ will have to coine at the New Zealand end oi the industry if cheese is to be sold consistently to the best advantage. In other words, it will not do for the whole of the industry to

plunge into the production of a certain quality of cheese, merely because a few factories have found such qual-

ity to pay them well. The consumers’ varying tastes should bo studied elosely, with a view to factories finding how noair they can make their particu-

lar product approximate the demand in a given area. These, and many more aspects of the trade at the consuming end, would come within the scope of any investigators sent Home by the industry. Practical cheese-makers, sent on such a mission, could certainly bring back and deliver a message which would be listened to with respect by the men engaged in the industry in New Zealand. In view of the fact that,

dairy produce represents such a large Proportion of our national wealth/-it is reasonable to demand that the request of the Taranaki Federation be carefully considered by the Department, and, if necessary, by our legislators. For our part we would go a little further than the Federation and recommend that an export in the marketing side of the cheese industry should accompany such practical cheesemakers ns might be appointed to this mission, for the purpose of collating their views in a report, organising the investigation and establishing communication generally with the highest authorities at Home.