CONTROL OF DAIRY PRODUCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19469, 27 October 1926, Page 10

CONTROL OF DAIRY PRODUCE.

Sir, —It is scarcely credible that there should be at this date a dairy farmer in New Zealand who should think that there is any similarity between the system of marketing that the New Zealand Dairy Export Control Board has set up and the common-sense methods employed by our competitors, the Danes. Mr. Henry says: "We hear no outcry against 'the methods employed by the Danes.' " Certainly not, and there would be no outcry against our Control Board were they to employ similar methods. The Danish factories are at liberty to market their own produce in any way they choose. Most of them sell fco.b. Copenhagen. Those that consign to London always meet the market and never store. Their first objective is for their butter to . reach the public as fresh as possible. There is no compulsion. A mittee composed partly of producers' representatives and partly of merchants meets weekly in Copenhagen and fixes a price which it recommends factories to ask. for their butter during the coming week. Instead of not allowing buyers with' tho cash to purchase butter f.0.b., they are only too glad to have them there. Had our Control Board adopted such a policy as that of tho Australian Control Board, with a London advisory board of Australian representatives in conjunction with Tooley Street merchants, with the liberty of factories to disposo of their own property either by selling or consigning, with no compulsion, the industry would not be divided as it is at present. Tho overwhelming victories gained by the advocates of the "right of the factory to dispose of its own property" at tho recent Control Board elections would indicate that the majority of the producers are now opposed to the extreme measures adopted by the board. J. E. Leeson. The Lake Farm, Morrinsvillo. Sir,—l hope the supporters of absolute control are perfectly satisfied as far as they have gone. One shilling and twopence for those who are fortunate; from that downwards for those who are less fortunate, and all to satisfy a whim. The more quickly we can knock the whole thing on the head the better it will be for all of us, though I am afraid too late for many. It was no use the minority protesting, but it seems hard wo have to be ruined against any effort of our own direction. The majority deserve it, becauso they voted for it. Mr. Coates promised that he would not stand by and see the minority oppressed. He apparently has forgotten this promise. Also, the Minister of Agriculture gave some weak-kneed promise that he would see the minority were not squashed. Now, as they have let us into this awful mess, the sooner they set to work to right it the better. Fed Up.