THE DAIRYING INDUSTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18954, 27 February 1925, Page 7

THE DAIRYING INDUSTRY.

Sir,—The statement by Mr. W. Goodfellow, managing director of the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company, which appeared in the Hek.vld on 1' sbruary 20, * discloses a state of things which in my opinion should not be allowed to continue. To my mind producers should insist that) the butter, their property, marketed by the company, should bo sold at its market value, and not at a price representing what the directors of the New Zealand Co-opera-tive Dairy Company may arbitrarily consider it may be- worth two or three months hence. Of course, its value to-day should be fixed according to London parity. If butter is realising a certain price to-day in London, that price should represent its value on the local market, and it should be disposed of accordingly. If the butter market should at any time exhibit a falling tendency, and it should be decided to sell at n figure to which it is estimated the price will decline, in the course of a given period, what is to be done when the market is hardening and the selling price may be expected to rise, to, say, two shillings per lb. ? Will those who estimate for a fall, in the interests of dairy farmers, bo equally ready to provide for an estimated rise and fix the payment to the suppliers accordingly? The whole matter, vitally important as it is, demands the most careful and searching investigation on the part of the dairy farmers' anion, failing which a very considerable proportion of the Waikato dairy farmers' must be forced off their farms. Is it out of regard for the interests of the dairy farmers that * this price-cutting of butter on the Auckland market obtains, or is it owing to a. determination on the part of the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company to eliminate the competition of the small proprietory concerns, and thus build up a great monopolistic concern which, if established, will most certainly not bo in th« interests of the dairy farmers as a body? A great deal has appeared in the columns of the Herald of late on the subject of the present season's output of butter. Frequent references have been made to this being a record season, and assuredly, so far as output is concerned, the season has proved a record one. fl But what about the pay-out on which the suppliers depend to enable them to carry on ? For the months of November, December, itnd January of last season the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company paid out Is 3|d, Is 4|d, and Is 5d per lb., respectively, for butterfat. For the same months of the present season the pay-out has been: November, Is 3Jid; December, Is and January, Is Ojd. The Herald's exceedingly able and in T structive article on t"he subject of the compulsory control of butter, cheese, etc., for the purpose of shipping, marketing, and so forth, which appeared a week or two ago, was well-timed, and should cause dairy farmers throughout the Dominion to pause and carefully consider the matter before entrusting their interests to a body of five or six men who would most certainly be dominated by one overbearing personality, and that to the prejudice of, the entire dairying industry. Waikato Supplier.