DAIRY BOARD ELECTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19658, 9 June 1927, Page 14

DAIRY BOARD ELECTION.

MR. F. LYE'S CAMPAIGN. OPPOSITION TO COMPULSION. ADVOCATE OF FREE MARKETING. [BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] OPOTIKI. Wednesday. An address was given by Mr. F. Lye, candidate for a seat on the Dairy Control Board as representative of Ward 3, last evening at a good meeting of farmers. The wet weather affected the attendance. Mr. H. R. Hogg, chairman of the Opotiki Dairy Company, who presided, said the directors of his company were unanimously opposed to compulsion. He said he could not understand the chango of front by Mr. W. Goodfellow, the other candidate. * Mr. Lye, who received applause on rising, said he came before the electors as a direct producer opposed to dangerous theories and rasht experiments, such as had characterised the policy of the present board. He outlined his persfchal qualifications and wide experience of the organisation, financing and administration of businesses. He was one of the members of Parliament who took an active part in opposing the compulsory clause in the Dairy Control Bill, although the rest of the bill had his cordial support. He fully recognised the need of supervision of the industry both here and in London to secure the most favourable shipping, insurance, and storage rates. The Most, Urgent Problem. As an actual working producer the speaker has consistently claimed for farmers their inherent and constitutional right to dispose of their products as they deemed fit. He considered the most urgent problem to-day was that of the establishment of confidence and goodwill which had been seriously jeopardised in the chief market. This could only be achieved hy a reversal of the policy of compulsion and price fixation and. a return to the policy of freedom of contract and marketing. (Applause.) Mr. Lye contended that there could be no doubt that the doctrine of absolute control was engineered by one big dairy company. He said the attitude of the farmers toward compulsion was clearly shown at tho election of the board in September, 1926. The candidate said he was not an advocate of the middle man, but he was sane enough to understand that the importer, wholesaler and retailer were filling an economic need in the scheme of distribution of our produce. The honesty and integrity of British traders was recognised the world over and was largely a factor in making Great Britain tho trade centre of the world. The speaker quoted figures showing that importers had financed New Zealand produce this year while butter was going into store through antagonism to compulsion in the trade generally. An unfortunate feature had been that old customers had been driven to other sources of supply. " Results of Compulsion." The gospel that " if we are to have control it' must be absolute" was derided by the speaker, who said Australia, Denmark, and Canada had control in one form which no one dare deny. The net results of compulsion summed up were that the producers wore divided, there were dissensions in the industry, old customers had bgen antagonised, there was a huge loss in interest and storage charges and accumulated stocks of butter had been sold as stale with corresponding lowprices. " It is the producers who have to pay, not the advocates of compulsion," said Mr. Lye, who made an appeal for peace in the industry and a return to freedom of contract and marketing. A number of questions were answered to the satisfaction of the audience. A hearty vote of thanks to and confidence in Mr. Lye was carried unanimously.