PRICE-FIXING BY DAIRY CONTROL BOARD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 15 October 1926, Page 3

PRICE-FIXING BY DAIRY CONTROL BOARD

•Sir. 'I hut (Jio constant reiteration of •I- fril!" truth is worse than a downright he is my ruasoo for replying lo yoUf lender of- U) 0 j K t. ' :( , n /j jti lo contrj"buted article of tiki Qth' last, on Ui'o above subject. None of Hie (jwitlwnbn f(ui>!ii<] say how tl'i'' boanj can do'the hick, Inn infer that tin- board will attempt lo boosl juices and have the proiluee left on t!ii-ir hand.s. The method as nut lined by your contributor as the proof wherewith lo condemn the board is the Dullish method of price regulation nol fixing and is carried out and varied according to the law of supply and demand. The butter speculator has no place in this system. Have yon any objection to the board copying the provel methods practised by the Danes? The board has an easier opportunity to fix prices here in New Zealand and the Labour Party had fears thai (he board would adopt labour union tactics, but Mr M'assey with the sanction of control supporters gave the Labour Party n guarantee thai local prices would not rise above London parity, whereupon that party voted for the Control Bill. Docs this look like price fixing? Will the opponents of control explain how the board can raise the London price against the- law of supply and demand? The tactics of these objectors remind lis of the old gang who fought the co-opera live movement with seduction of factory employees and directors, bogus buying and selling, mythical carry-over and phantom Siberian bolter and naturally they object lo control which is a step Inwards the culmination of [he cooperative movement.

The position of Hie New Zealand dairyman compared with the Dane is as follows: Of the price paid for Danish butler 80 per cent, reaches the prodiner: Hie value that reaches the New Zealand dairyman is under 50 per cent. The urealcr distance from our markets absorbs .15 per cent, anil to locate the unaccounted balance is part of the Control Board's job. .fudging by the opposition pul up it, is well worth fighting fur. Before condemning compulsory control why not. waste printer's ink condemning preference to unionists. This is a weapon given to labour unionism lo prevent scab labour. Compulsory control is Ihe necessary weapon lo prevent the scab in the dairy industry who would sell his fellow-producer for an odd farthing. 1 will ask you this (pieslion: Do you consider one .shilling and three pence, the [nice paid oul for but'er fa I by the Wairuea Co-operative Dairy Coy., sullicienl reward for the labour (including the swealed labour of wives and children) and other expenses to produce that butler fat? If you do nol consider one shilling and three pence a tip-top price and condemn control, then vim must have some better scheme to pul forward in its place which Ihe dairymen will be -pleased lo consider. 1 may say here that in districts where the pay "ill is one shilling and seven pi nee, Ihe Department of Agriculture is carrying out an investigation as to enst of production in an effort to locate what is wrong in the dairy industry.

To tell Hie farmer thai he is the backbone of I lit- country is an empty phrase; he wants something practical. The politicians and 20 per cenl. profiteers instead of removing the burdens Miey place on the producer, cry: produce move, top dress, herd test, re, (luce land values. These are not going to solve the problem. Might I .suggest, Sir, that instead of quoting supply and demand, which the producer always hears aboul when lie is a seller, yon carry out a minute and detailed investigation of the equally important economic law of price and value in everything affecting producing costs. For a start, divide the value of our dairy produce by the number engaged therein and consider if Ihe return is satisfactory.—T am, etc., J. P. PROUSE. P.elgrove, 12/10/26. [We have never suggested that the producer receives more than his produce is worth. But we have pointed mil the danger of any attempt by the Dairy Control Board to fix prices for the Knglish market. We agree with our correspondent that the price will finally he fixed bv the law of supply and demand,--Ed.' "The Mail."]