DAIRYING PROBLEMS

Hawera Star, Volume L, 19 February 1931, Page 4

DAIRYING PROBLEMS

RATIONALISATION SUGGESTION ME. GOODFELLOW INTERVIEWED AMALGAMATION OF PRODUCE BOARDS. Mr W. G. Goodfellow was invited yesterday by a representative of the “Star ” to comment upon the subject of co-ordination of the administration of the dairy industry, which has been discussed in these columns during the last few days by men prominently associated with the industry.

“ Amalgamate the Dairy and the Meat Boards first in the interests of economy,” said Mr Goodfellow. “You would then cut down the cost of administration by more than half. The one board could just as easily arrange shipping and insurance contracts, and supervise cold storage and the shipment of the produce. Neither is attempting to do anything in the way of marketing. There need be no Government representatives on such a board and only one merchants’ representative. ‘‘Could the management of the internal affairs of the industry be improved upon?” Mr Goodfellow was asked. “The N.D.A. could look after domestic matters,” was the reply. “As to marketing, there is the council system, which Taranaki has already turned down, but it works elsewhere. Under that system the. suppliers elect the directors, the directors elect the council and a council of, say, 30 men men, elects a board of about six men. Thd export policy is decided by the council and the board carries out that policy. Any kind of Dairy Board elected by individual vote will only result in individual interests being represented. “But if Taranaki does not like that sj-stem of electing a Dairy' Board it can still undertake group marketing,” continued Mr Goodfellow. “South Taranaki and North Taranaki could both form independent groups if they did not care to work together. It would be essential for each group to have its own permanent secretary, a first-class commercial man who would, in the course of a y r ear, become conversant with marketing. This secretary would have to go Home periodically to keep in touch with affairs, and later the group could appoint a man permanently' at Home. In this way' the group would get first hand information from its own source and need rely on no one else. The group could market through us (Amalgamated Dairies) or through any other channels; it would make no difference to us. This would achieve the object of cementing the ranks of the sellers. If you can have one combined seller it is better for the produce than having 500 sellers scrambling to sell their produce. This does not entail price fixing or ey r en holding, but merely the close study of the market and the elimination of price-cutting. When you have 500 sellers and 30 buyers on a yveak market y r ou have the agents rushing around to cut each other’s throat in regard to price. Competition is all right up to a point; from 1922 to 1028 competition kept the market somewhere near the value of the produce. Now we have got to a stage where one seller is playing off against the other. Nothing can be done to stop this unless the sellers get together. ’ ’

Wairarapa y\ T as introducing group selling of butter and North Auckland was seriously going into the matter, said Mr Goodfclloyv. Under this system the pay-out was on a grade basis and the factory which kept its overhead down and its quality up made the biggest profit.

Mr Goodfelloyv had something to say also about Empire preferences. 'The Conserymtive Party at Home had committed itself to a policy of Empire preference and it yvas for the people of New Zealand, and the farmers particularly, to get ready to grant substantial preferences to Great Britain in order that this country could ask for preference for its primary products on the Home market.

Asked what he considered the prospects for dairy produce for the immediate future, Mr Goodfcllow said that the prospects for next year were not rosy. Britain had a huge unemployment problem and social services were costing the country many millions. With a new Government and the introduction of Empire preference, they could look forward to better times after the next year was over. 4 ‘ TIME IS OPPORTUNE ’ ’ NEED FOR ACTION BY LEADERS. MR A. B. MUGGERIDGE’S OPINION. “If ever tlie industry is to cut out overlapping and get down to a solid basis, now is the time to do it,” said Mr A. B. Muggeridge, chairman of the Alton Dairy Company, to a “Star” reporter yesterday. “I have read the articles which have appeared in the “Star” with great interest, and I hope j that the outcome will he that dairymen will get together for the purpose of cutting out mudh of the present system which leads to conferences and much talk and no results. We should endeavour to get rid of this interprovincial jealousy between Taranaki and Waikato and endeavour to arrive at ;in arrangement whereby the interests of the whole of the industry are put first. ” Mr Muggeridge said that he con-, sidered that there was a lot in the! suggestion that the Dairy Board should be reconstituted in order tol live it a voice in the domestic policy, j Such a board would then he able to mil the farmers into conference once i year and carry out any policy that ,vas decided to l>o in the best interests of the industry as a whole. He agreed mtirely with the point made by the “Star” that there was no need for a National Dairy Association conference x> make recommendations to the man! as at present. To-day the board lad no powers other than in regard >o export. If the board were the lirect representatives of the dairy armors in all matters, reforms which t majority of the industry decided vere desirable could then be put into ;fleet. It would be for such a hoard, ■epresentative of the dairymen, to deine the industry’s policy and for the Dairy Division to carry out that xolicy. Mr Muggeridge was emphatic that lie industry would make a great mistake if it demanded the destruction of til its present organisation before it lad anything ready to take its place, rile federation had served a useful) mrposo; it gave the Taranaki farmers. t voice and he could not understand j hose factory directors which had de-j :ided that it was eood economy to cut

adrift from the federation. The federation’s laboratory had done good work, and it would have done better still if the dairymen liad been prepared to carry out its recommendations. It was the height of folly, he considered, for dairymen to believe that they could do without the laboraI tory' at this stage, when they should be bending every effort to overcome | the disabilities of the industry, j Mr Muggeridge added that it was to be hoped that the industry would not let interest in the subject drop, but that steps would be taken with a view to arriving at a solution of the problems of overlapping and lack of coordinated decision which was to-day holding them back. He urged that action bo taken early so that the industry would he in the best possible shape to face the new dairying season in the spring.