DAIRY INDUSTRY

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXX, Issue 4833, 14 April 1936, Page 5

DAIRY INDUSTRY

PROPRIETARY COMPANIES. ELIMINATION FAVOURED. The purchase by; the Government of proprietary dairy factories competitive with co-operative concerns and their disposal in accordance with the wishes of the co-operative companies was urged in a remit from the Huntly branch at last week's conference of the Waikato Sub-Provincial district of the Farmers' Union. It was contended that the- expense entailed by the purchase should be borne by the co-operative companies effected by a levy upon their output or other means if preferred. It was urged that action should be taken to eliminate over-lapping between cooperative companies and that no further licenses should be granted unless it could be shown that the existing factories and organisations could not cope with the supply that was offering. "A Crying Scandal." Mr. Furniss said the motion was moved in no personal animosity towards the proprietary concerns. At any time of crisis they had constituted considerable friction and it was a crying scandal that, while every endeavour was being made to reduce costs, over-lapping was constantly occurring. The Dairy Control Board had endeavoured to plan a zoning system to eliminate redundant factories and lorries and he was convinced that legislation along these lines would soon be considered essential. Mr. F. L. Onion said he considered the remit an unwarranted attack upon private enterprise and he viewed competition as the life of trade. The recommendations in regard to overlapping he supported. It was submitted by Mr. G. T. Crawley that the proprietary concerns were solely in search of profits for the shareholders, whereas the cooperative companies were solely concerned with the interests of the farmers. Equally to Blame. Supporting Mr. Onion's contentions, Mr. D. H. Cavers said that co-opera-tive concerns were equally to blame in the friction that had occurred. The increase in costs caused by overlajDping would not affect the price of butter per pound. Similar views were expressed by Mrs. Mcintosh, the representative of the Women's Division, but Mr. W. T. Hodgson said that the history of the industry showed that proprietary firms had been its bugbear. He thought that the proprietary interests would welcome a settlement. Several other speakers supported the remit and, replying to the opposition, Mr. Furniss referred to fierce criticism which the proprietary companies had levelled at the proposals to institute Government testing and grading. The remit was carried by a small majority.