CORRESPONDENCE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 19 October 1922, Page 4

CORRESPONDENCE.

~» ■ ■ TH! PROPOSED DAIRY POOL.

-To the Editor.) ™Sf '~~ ihlnklng over the above proSncam^- °U% canno* hut feel the uncannj coolness with hd • f «s m this district have been t?Jted tL. W eaV lot aWt co-opera-tion, but when >t comes to a case like least by those who claim to be ife ______ E^f £" **" most ™>mentcraS^piojeet that has #rer concerned producers they are to have the least say. At the annual meetings just past ifc could not be "discussed nor voted upon r because there was nothing to discuss/ Certainty a meeting of factory directors was held to discuss it at Wellington, but none of those that went from this district had any authority from their co-sharehdders to bind them to the results of that conference. If they could have brought back complete data to be discussed by their respective companiesthey might have clone well, but they have not even done that; yet the Government proposes to legislate as the result of that conference. If the matter is so urgent that it requires haste/ ! why do the chairmen not call their respective companies together to consider it and take; their vote on it. If there is nothing to hide, why do- they not act immediately, and so remove the stigma that at present attaches to the whole thing. If there are sufficient particulars available for legislation, surely there are sufficient for companies' shareholders to discuss. Or are they aware of its unpopularity in these parts? The chairmen will have something to answer fo T at the next annual meetings if they do not act forthwith. Our credulity has been outraged by being asked to believe all that its promoters tell us. Some of the same men who have had to do with co-op. concerns that are tottering; some who were so impelled by the gambling element at the commencement of the season as not to be prepared to take market value for their produce, but sold it at a figure which is now claimed to have let buying firms make thousands; these are they that are going to make such a magnificent castle (albeit in the air) out of the pooling proposition. £20,000,000 worth of produce to be entrusted to nine fallible beings, some of whom cannot claim to be over-successful even in the management of their own companies. It is ! futile to ask for constructive .'criticism.,.-, when one is absolutely opposed to thC~~ -"control" part of the business; and to • suggest giving it a trial seems to me to be the height of folly, especially when.there are so many reasons against it. Further, how far would they go I before they admitted defeat? They are to have power to levy an unknown percentage charge on all dairy produce i controlled, and who ca tell to what extent they will squander money in their frantic efforts to justify their existence when they find their calculations upset? It always seems to me to .be an ominous sign when men get to- . I gether and say, "Let us build a tower, that its top may reach unto (in this case) Utopia." They have had abundj ant evidence to show the seriousness of interfering with the markets. The | Imperial Government held stocks of produce back, but that only made the market worse, as buyers always had j to remember that that stuff was -there and would be released some time.. The late chairman of Patea works told us one time that thousands of hides and skins were held in the different freezI ing works waiting for the embargo to be lifted. What was the result ? Buyj ers knew that those hides were there and that immediately they were released there would b£ a. "glut" ill th^ I market, so the price fell. We can expect the same thing to happen when the control committee interfere with the law of "supply and demand." Then, again, they do not take into consideration the possibilities of a counterorganisation springing up at Home. If they only look around them they will ; see that where any organisation has j sprung up to benefit one 'class it has only been a matter of time when, a;' counter-institution has been evolved.^: !Is the federated "pool" going to be •an exception? think not. They are going to be up against the keenest brains of the Empire, so we may safely forecast the result of any differences of opinion that may arise. In any case, do you not think, sir, that the actual producers sbould have full information laid before them, and have an opportunity of voting upon it, and that this can best be done by the chairmen calling their respective companies together? Thanking you in anticipation of space,—l am, etc., PRODUCER.